Assessing security risks of users in a computing network

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments assess security risks of users in computing networks. In some embodiments, an interaction item is sent to an end user electronic device. When the end user interacts with the interaction item, the system collects feedback data that includes information about the user&#39;s interaction with the interaction item, as well as technical information about the electronic device. The feedback is compared to a plurality of security risk scoring metrics. Based on this comparison, a security risk score for the user with respect to a computing network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent document claims priority as a continuation-in-part to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/620,866, filed on Feb. 12, 2015, which inturn claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/939,450, filed on Feb. 13, 2014.

This patent document is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/418,867, filed Jan. 30, 2017, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/216,002, filed Mar.17, 2014 (“the '002 Application”). The '002 Application claims priorityto U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/793,011, filed Mar. 15,2013, titled Context-Aware Training Systems, Apparatuses and Methods.The '002 Application also claims priority to, and is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/442,587,filed Apr. 9, 2012, entitled Context-Aware Training Systems, Apparatusesand Methods (“the '587 Application”), which in turn claims priority to:(i) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/473,384, filed Apr. 8,2011 and entitled Behavior Sensitive Training System; and (ii) U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/473,366, filed Apr. 8, 2011 andentitled System and Method for Teaching the Recognition of FraudulentMessages by Identifying Traps Within the Message. The '002 Applicationalso claims priority to, and is a continuation-in-part of, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/832,070, filed Mar. 15, 2013, which is acontinuation of the '587 Application and the provisional applicationsdescribed above.

The contents of the priority applications listed above are fullyincorporated into this document by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure generally relates to managing security risks incomputing networks, and more particularly relates to assessing securityrisks of users in a computing network. These security risks may beassessed based on a behavioral and/or technical profile of a user.

Security risks may include, for example, end user properties such asinsecure passwords and/or usernames and/or end user activities, such asinteracting with a phishing attack, disclosing sensitive information,using insecure network connections (e.g., public WiFi), improperlysecuring a mobile device, and/or the like. Security risks such as thesemay pose a significant risk to an employer, especially when an end useremployee fails to recognize a security risk. Current security riskassessment systems and methods assess security risks after riskybehavior has occurred (e.g., after a security risk presents itself).Current security risk assessment systems and methods are notpreventative and forward-thinking.

These and other drawbacks exist.

SUMMARY

Various example embodiments include systems and methods for assessingsecurity risks of users in computing networks. Additionally, a systemand method in accordance with example embodiments may generate aninteraction item for training or security, and it may send theinteraction item to a user of an end user electronic device. The systemmay then obtain a set of sensed data relating to the user's interactingwith an interaction item, as well as technical data relating to thedevice. The system will compare the sensed data to a set of securityrisk scoring metrics. The risk scoring metrics may include risk scoringmetrics unique to each type of input data. For example, the risk scoringmetrics may include a set of metrics each assigning a weight to a useraction defined for a computing network-based security item, a set ofmetrics each assigning a weight to a different user action defined for atraining item, and/or a third set of metrics each assigning weight to adifferent technical attribute of the technical data. An example systemand method may include hardware and/or software components to calculatea security risk score for a user based on a comparison of input data tosecurity risk scoring metrics. An example system and method may includehardware and/or software components to transmit and/or display acalculated security risk score.

An example system includes a database that stores input data and/or riskscoring metrics, one or more computer processors that accesses the inputdata and/or risk scoring metrics, a collection module that collects theretrieved transaction data, and an association module that associatesthe retrieved transaction data with existing data in one or moreelectronic databases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the present disclosure, together with furtherobjects and advantages, may best be understood by reference to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in the several Figures of which like reference numeralsidentify like elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an example embodiment of a system for risk assessmentaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a risk assessment manager according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 depicts an example interactive environment for creating acampaign according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts examples of security item and/or training item templateprofiles according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts an example interactive environment presenting a templateto a user according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts an example set of sophistication metrics according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 depicts an example interactive environment presenting userselection and campaign delivery options for a campaign according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 depicts example client profiles according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 9 depicts an example user profile according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 10 depicts campaign profiles according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 11 depicts an example security item and/or training item generatedfrom a template according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 depicts an example training item displayed before, during,and/or after interaction with a security item and/or training itemaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 13 depicts example risk scoring metrics according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

FIG. 14 depicts example risk scoring metrics according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

FIG. 15 depicts an example interactive environment presenting a list ofcampaigns according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 16 depicts an example interactive environment presenting a campaignsummary according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 17 depicts an example security item campaign report data for agiven client presented in an interactive environment according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 18 depicts an example of security item campaign report data for agiven client presented in an interactive environment according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 19 depicts example report data associated with recipient groups ofone or more campaigns for a given client presented in an interactiveenvironment according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 20 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process forassessing security risks of users in computing networks according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 21 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process formanaging an entity's risk exposure to security items according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 22 depicts a block diagram illustrating an example informationprocessing system according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example set of sensors that may be used in theembodiments described in this document.

FIG. 24 illustrates an embodiment of a partial training needs modelbased on simple threshold levels.

FIG. 25 illustrates elements of another embodiment of a training needsmodel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to an example embodiment, a risk assessment system and methodmay be provided, where the system and method may use multiple dimensionsto assess and/or quantify the security risk of an entity (e.g.,employees, departments, and a company as a whole) with respect to acomputing network(s). This multi-dimensional risk assessment system mayallow an organization to better detect and understand the security riskspresented by its employees and/or various groups within theorganization.

According to an example embodiment, a risk assessment system and methodmay include performing an initial risk assessment by transmitting asecurity item and/or a training item from a security system to a usersystem to obtain response data associated with the transmitted securityitem and/or training item. Response data may be used to calculate aninitial risk score associated with a specific user. Subsequent securityitem and/or training item may be transmitted to a user system, where thesubsequent security item and/or training item is determined based on therisk score associated with a user. Interactions via a user system withsubsequent security items and/or training items may result in subsequentresponse data that may be transmitted to security system where a user'srisk score may be updated and/or recalculated based on the subsequentresponse data.

According to an example embodiment, a security item and/or training itemmay include, for example, data associated with introductory securityinformation, phishing information, social media information, remoteand/or travel-related information, password information, socialengineering information, web safety information, data protectioninformation, email security information, computer security information,physical security information, simulation data associated with any ofthe preceding information, and/or any combination of the above or thelike.

According to an example embodiment, a system may include a securitysystem, a user system, and a network connecting a security system and auser system.

Risk Assessment System

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 according to an example embodiment. Thesystem 100 may include a user system 104, 106 and a security system 102connected over a network 108.

The network 108 may be one or more of a wireless network, a wirednetwork, or any combination of a wireless network and a wired network.For example, network 108 may include one or more of a fiber opticsnetwork, a passive optical network, a cable network, an Internetnetwork, a satellite network, a wireless LAN, a Global System for MobileCommunication (GSM), a Personal Communication Service (PCS), a PersonalArea Networks, (PAN), D-AMPS, Wi-Fi, Fixed Wireless Data, IEEE 802.11b,802.15.1, 802.11n, and 802.11g or any other wired or wireless networkfor transmitting and receiving a data signal.

In addition, network 108 may include, without limitation, telephonelines, fiber optics, IEEE Ethernet 902.3, a wide area network (WAN), alocal area network (LAN) or a global network such as the Internet. Also,network 110 may support an Internet network, a wireless communicationnetwork, a cellular network, or the like, or any combination thereof.Network 108 may further include one network, or any number of exampletypes of networks mentioned above, operating as a stand-alone network orin cooperation with each other. Network 108 may utilize one or moreprotocols of one or more network elements to which they arecommunicatively couples. Network 108 may translate to or from otherprotocols to one or more protocols of network devices. Although network108 is depicted as a single network, it should be appreciated thataccording to one or more embodiments, network 108 may comprise aplurality of interconnected networks, such as, for example, theInternet, a service provider's network, a cable television network,corporate networks, and home networks.

An end user may access network 108 through one or user systems 104, 106that may be communicatively coupled to the network 108. A security usermay access the network 108 through one or more security systems 102 thatmay be communicatively coupled to the network 108. Although pictured astwo user systems 104, 106, the system 100 may include a number of usersystems 104. For example, each user associated with an entity (e.g.,company, group within a company, and/or the like) may be assigned a usersystem 104. Additionally, although security system 102 is depicted as asingle systems and/or devices, it should be appreciated that accordingto one or more embodiments, security system may include a plurality ofsystems and/or devices. Security system 102 may resides within the samenetwork as the user systems 104, 106, in a remote system outside of thenetwork comprising the user systems 104, 106, and/or within a cloudcomputing environment.

An example user system 104, 106 and/or security system 102 may includeone or more network-enabled computers to process instructions forassessing risk associated with an end user, with a group of end users,and/or with a company as described herein. As referred to herein, anetwork-enabled computer may include, but is not limited to: e.g., anycomputer device, or communications device including, e.g., a server, anetwork appliance, a personal computer (PC), a workstation, a mobiledevice, a phone, a handheld PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), athin client, a fat client, an Internet browser, or other device. Amobile device may include an iPhone, iPod, iPad from Apple® or any othermobile device running Apple's iOS operating system, any device runningGoogle's Android® operating system, including for example, Google'swearable device, Google Glass, any device running Microsoft's Windows®Mobile operating system, and/or any other smartphone or like wearablemobile device. The one or more network-enabled computers of the examplesystem 100 may execute one or more software applications to perform riskassessment and/or analysis for an end user, a group of end users, and/ora company as described herein.

The user system 104, 106 and/or security system 102 may further include,for example, a processor, which may be several processors, a singleprocessor, or a single device having multiple processors. The usersystem 104, 106 and/or security system 102 may access and becommunicatively coupled to the network 108. The user system 104, 106and/or security system 102 may store information in various electronicstorage media, such as, for example, a database (not shown). Electronicinformation may be stored in the user system 104, 106 and/or securitysystem 102 in a format such as, for example, a flat file, an indexedfile, a hierarchical database, a post-relational database, a relationaldatabase, such as a database created and maintained with software from,for example Oracle® Corporation, Microsoft® Excel file, Microsoft®Access file, or any other storage mechanism.

The user system 102, 104 and/or security system 102 may send and receivedata using one or more protocols. For example, data may be transmittedand received using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), MultimediaMessaging Service (MMS), Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS), Short MessageService (SMS), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) basedsystems, Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) based systems, Code DivisionMultiples Access (CDMA) based systems suitable for transmitting andreceiving data. Data may be transmitted and received wirelessly or mayutilize cabled network connections or telecom connections, fiberconnections, traditional phone wireline connection, a cable connection,or other wired network connection.

Each user system, 104, 106 and/or security system 102 of FIG. 1 may alsobe equipped with physical media, such as, but not limited to, a compactdisc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a floppy disk, a hard drive,read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), as well as otherphysical media capable of storing software, or combinations thereof.User system, 104, 106 and/or security system 102 may be able to performthe functions associated with risk assessment and analysis as describedherein and may, for example, house the software for risk assessment andanalysis, obviating the need for a separate device on the network 108 torun the methods housed on the user system 104, 106 and/or securitysystem 102. Furthermore, the information stored in a database (notshown) may be available over the network 108, with the networkcontaining data storage.

A database housed on any user system 104, 106 and/or security system 102or the network 108, may store, or may connect to external datawarehouses that stores, risk score data, input data, scoring metrics,campaign data, template data, and/or other data used as describedherein. Risk score data may include, for example, risk scores associatedwith an end user, with a group of end users, and/or a company.

Input data may include, for example, user property data, security iteminteraction data, training interaction data, and/or technicalinformation associated with a particular user. User property data mayinclude, for example, existing data associated with an end user of usersystem 104, 106, such as a username, a password, a security question, asecurity answer, a password hint, and/or the like. Security interactiondata may include, for example, an action performed by a user withrespect to a security item presented to the user at user system 104,106. Training interaction data may include, for example, an actionperformed by a user with respect to a training-based item presented tothe user at user system 104, 106. Technical information may include, forexample, a device make, a device model, software stored on the device(e.g., software name, version, developer name, and/or the like), anetwork address associated with the device, and/or the like.

Input data may be used to calculate a security risk score of an enduser, groups of end users, and an organization (e.g., company)associated with the user(s). Scoring metric data may include weightsand/or scores assigned to data associated with a campaign, such as asecurity item, a training item, content associated with a security itemand/or training item, responses associated with a security item, and/ortraining item, and/or the like. Template data may include dataassociated with a particular template that may be used to determine arisk score for an end user at user system 104, 106. For example,template data may include sender data, hyperlink data, questionnairedata, audio/video data, interactive application data, simulation data,training data, a sophistication level of a template item, and/or thelike. Campaign data may include data associated with a risk assessmentcampaign such as template data used in a campaign, recipient data of acampaign, scoring metrics of a campaign, security items of a campaign,training items of a campaign, and/or the like.

The security system 102 may include hardware and/or software componentsto build a campaign, transmit campaign data to a user system 104, 106,receive behavioral and/or technical data associated with a campaign froma user system 104, and/or calculate a risk score for each end user,group of end users, and/or organization associated with an end user(e.g., company). Security system 102 may include a risk assessmentmanager 110 that transmits computing network-based security items and/ortraining items to end users at user systems 104, 106 to assess securityrisks posed by the end users to a computing network. Security itemsand/or training items may be presented to an end user at user system104, 106 with a computing network-based security situation or scenarioand/or with a training situation or scenario. Feedback and/or responsesassociated with presenting and/or transmitting security items and/ortraining items may include security item responses, training itemresponses, technical information, and/or user property data. Feedbackand/or responses associated with presenting and/or transmitting securityitems and/or training items may be used to determine a risk score for auser.

Examples of security items 112 and/or training items 124 may includemessages comprising security threats such as phishing messages (e.g.,phishing emails, text/SMS/MMS messages, voice messages, instantmessages, social network messages, and/or the like), password generationand/or update requests, questionnaires comprising differentsecurity-related scenarios such as handling computing devices outside ofa work environment, social media interaction, mobile securityinteraction, social engineering topics, web safety, data protection,email security, computer security, and/or physical security, passwordgeneration, and/or the like. The risk assessment manager 110 maytransmit a security item 112 and/or training item 124 to users based ontheir interactions with security items 112 and/or training items 124.The training items may instruct a user how to properly recognizesecurity threats within security items; how to interact with securityitems in a way that does not comprise the security of the computingnetwork; and/or the like. Examples of security item training items mayinclude videos, websites, applications on how to recognize and interactwith specific security threats (e.g., phishing messages, maliciousattachments, etc.) and/or security-sensitive situations (e.g., passwordgeneration, utilization of company computing devices in externalenvironments, handling sensitive data, etc.); interactive websites,applications, and/or the like asking prompting the user to provideanswers to questions; and/or the like. Security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 may also include a simulation of a security item 112and/or a training item 124.

The risk assessment manager 110 may receive end user behavioral dataand/or technical data based on the transmitted security item and/ortraining item. The risk assessment manager 110 may use the received dataand use the received data and/or other data stored within securitysystem 102 to calculate a risk score for an end user associated withuser system 104, 106, a group of end users, and/or an organizationassociated with the end user(s). The risk score may indicate howvulnerable an end user, groups of end users, the organization, and/orthe computing network are to security risks.

Security system 102 also may include security items 112 (which may besimulated security items and/or actual security items). Security items112 may be included in a template and campaign to be transmitted to usersystems 104, 106. Security items 112 may present an end user associatedwith user system 104, 106 with a particular computing user and/ornetwork-based security situation and may be used to assess a securityrisk of the end user with respect to the computing network. Securitysystem 102 also may include training items 124 (which may be simulatedand/or actual). Training items 124 may be included in a template andcampaign to be transmitted to user systems 104, 106. Training items 124may present an end user associated with user system 104, 106 withtraining data associated with user and/or network-based securityscenarios. Training items 124 may include audio/video data, tests,quizzes, questionnaires, interactive applications, scenario-basedchallenge/response applications, and/or the like to obtain feedback froman end user using user system 104, 106 regarding knowledge and/orproficiency associate with user and/or network-based security issues.Feedback and/or responses to security items 112 and/or training items124 may be received and stored as security item interaction data 132and/or training item interaction data 134, respectively. Security iteminteraction data 132 and/or training item interaction data 134 may beused to generate an initial risk score for an end user, a group of endusers, and/or an organization. Security item interaction data 132 and/ortraining item interaction data 134 may be used to update a risk scorefor an end user, a group of end users, and/or an organization. Securityitem interaction data 132 and/or training item interaction data 134 maybe used to determine a sophistication level associated with subsequentlytransmitted security items 112 and/or training items 124 as well as thefrequency of future occurrence for each end user based on the end user'sscore.

Security system 102 also may include security item templates 114,template profiles 116, user/employee profiles 118, client profiles 120,campaign profiles 122, risk metrics 126, campaign reports 128,sophistication metrics 130, user property data 136, and/or technicalinformation 138. User systems 104, 106 may include an input/outputmodule 140 and/or a risk assessment agent 142.

Input/output module 140 may include for example, I/O devices, which maybe configured to provide input and/or output to user system 104, 106(e.g., keyboard, mouse, display, speakers, printers, modems, networkcards, etc.). Input/output module 140 also may include antennas, networkinterfaces that may provide or enable wireless and/or wire line digitaland/or analog interface to one or more networks, such as network 108,over one or more network connections, a power source that provides anappropriate alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) to power oneor more components of user system 104, 106, and a bus that allowscommunication among the various components of user system 104, 106.Input/output module 140 may include a display, which may include forexample output devices, such as a printer, display screen (e.g.,monitor, television, and the like), speakers, projector, and the like.Although not shown, each user system 104, 106 may include one or moreencoders and/or decoders, one or more interleavers, one or more circularbuffers, one or more multiplexers and/or de-multiplexers, one or morepermuters and/or depermuters, one or more encryption and/or decryptionunits, one or more modulation and/or demodulation units, one or morearithmetic logic units and/or their constituent parts, and the like.Input/output module 140 may also include an application (e.g., a webbrowser, an email client, a text messaging application, a socialnetworking application, etc.), an application programming interface,and/or or the like. An input/output module 140 may allow a the user ofuser system 104, 106 to receive and/or interact with security items 112and/or training items 124 transmitted from the risk assessment manager110 and/or send and receive messages from other users and applications,and/or the like.

The risk assessment agent 142 may monitor a user's interaction withsecurity items 112 and/or training items 124 received from the riskassessment manager 110. Risk assessment agent 142 may identifyattributes/characteristics of the user system 104, 106, such as userproperty data 136 and/or technical information 138. Risk assessmentagent 142 may send feedback and/or responses to security items 112and/or training items 124 to security system 102 where it may be storedas security item interaction data 132 and/or training item interactiondata 134, respectively.

Security item interaction data 132 and/or training item interaction data134 may also be stored within the user, template, and/or campaignprofiles 114, 116, 122. Similarly, user property data 136 may bemonitored at user system 104, 106, collected, and transmitted tosecurity system 102 for storage and use in calculating a risk score.User property data 136 may include, for example, a username, an emailaddress, a name, a group, an organization, a password, a securityquestion, a security answer, a password hint, and/or the like. Userproperty data 136 may include current and/or previous user propertydata. Technical information 138 may be monitored at user system 104,106, collected, and transmitted to security system 102 for storage anduse in calculating a risk score. Technical information 138 may begathered based on information (e.g., a security item and/or a trainingitem) transmitted to user system 104, 106. For example, a security itemand/or a training item may include data indicative of vulnerable,hazardous, and/or unreliable content or the like. Accordingly, securitysystem 102 may gather data relating to whether or not each data item ina security item and/or training item was properly transmitted to and/orloaded on a user system 104, 106. In this manner, various technicalinformation may be determined. As another example, and agent on usersystem 104, 106 may gather and transmit technical information tosecurity system 102. As another example, technical information 138 maybe gathered using device to device communications. Technical information138 may include, for example, a device make, a device model, softwarestored on the device (e.g., software name, version, developer name,and/or the like), operating system data (manufacturer, version, and/orthe like), platform data, location data (e.g., geo-location data and/orthe like), a network address associated with the device, and/or thelike. Technical information 138 may include current and/or previoustechnical information. User property data 136 and/or technicalinformation 138 may also be stored in within the user, template, and/orcampaign profiles 114, 116, 122.

Risk Assessment Manager

Security system 102 may include hardware and/or software components suchas a database, processor, and/or non-transitory computer readable media.Security system 102 may include a risk assessment manager 110 maytransmit a security item 112 and/or training item 124 to user systems104, 106. A security item 112 and/or training item 124 may include acomputing network-based security situation, threat, environment,questionnaire, interactive application, audio/video files and/or thelike. For example, a security item 112 and/or training item 124 mayinclude security threats such as message-based security threats (e.g.,voice, text, MMS, SMS, email, and/or instant message-type of securitythreats) or messages with simulated malicious attachments; asituation/scenario such as a password generation or update request;questionnaires presenting a security-related situation such asintroductory security information, phishing information, social mediainformation, remote and/or travel-related information, password securityinformation, social engineering information, web safety information,data protection information, email security information, computersecurity information, physical security information, and/or simulationdata associated with any of the preceding information; and/or the like.

Security items 112 and/or training item 124 may be simulated or actual(real) security items 112 and/or training item 124, respectively.Examples of security item 112 and/or training item 124 used throughoutthis discussion may include examples for illustrative purposes only.Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applicable to any computingnetwork-based security item and/or training item.

Risk assessment manager 110 may allow entities, such as a company, toprepare and/or transmit security items 112 and/or training items 124 viamessages, applications, web pages, and/or the like. Risk assessmentmanager 110 may transmit a security item 112 and/or training item 124 toan assigned user system 104, 106 associated with a particular user tofacilitate security awareness training. If a user of user system 104,106 interacts with security items 112 and/or training items 124 in a waythat poses a security risk to an entity, a risk assessment manager 110may transmit a training item 124 to the user system 104, 106, where thetraining item 124 is related to the initial security item 112 and/ortraining item 124. For example, if a security item 112 includes amessage having a simulated security threat, such as a phishing link, anda user at user system 104, 106 selects/clicks the link a risk assessmentmanager may transmit a training item 124 to the user system 104, 106 inresponse to the selection, which may be viewed using input/output module140. As another example, a security item 112 transmitted to user device104, 106 may include a training item 124 to be displayed, played, and/orthe like before, during, and/or after iteration with a security item 112regardless of feedback associated with security item 112. As anotherexample, a first training item 124, such as a questionnaire may includea second training item 124 to be displayed, played, and/or the likebefore, during, and/or after iteration with the first training item 124regardless of feedback associated with the first training item 124.Together, feedback and/or responses to security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 (e.g., security item interaction data 132 and/ortraining item interaction data 134), user property data 136 and/ortechnical information 138 may be used by risk assessment manager 110 tocalculate a risk score for a particular user, group of users, and/ororganization.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, risk assessment manager 110 may includevarious hardware and/or software components such as an interactiveenvironment 202, a campaign manager 204, an item generator 206, an itempresenter 208, a sophistication calculator 210, a user risk calculator212, a user action monitor 214, a data presenter 216, and an itemadjuster 218.

Interactive environment 202 may include data and/or processorsconfigured to generate an application and/or a website that allows auser of security system 102 to create a security item and/or trainingitem campaign. Security item and/or training item campaigns may includesecurity items 112 and/or training items 124, which may be transmittedand presented to users of user system 104, 106 over a given period oftime as part of a campaign. Characteristics of security item 112 may beconfigured to require a user of user device 104, 106 to determinewhether a security item 112 is trustworthy or was sent by a trustworthysource. Characteristics of training item 124 may be configured torequire a user of user device 104, 106 to determine answers and/orresponses to a training item 124.

For example, if a security item 112 is a simulated phishing message, asimulated social networking message, a simulated password generationmessage, and/or the like, the content of the message may be personalizedto a user at user system 104, 106, have a spoofed sender address thatportrays a legitimate sender, and/or includes other content thatincreases the likelihood (probability) that the user will perceive themessage as being legitimate and/or trustworthy. As another example,characteristics of a training item 124 may be altered to include varyinglevels of difficulty (e.g., more or less difficult questionnaires) todetermine a level of knowledge associated with a training item 124.Altering characteristics of a security item 112 and/or training item 124may be based on a sophistication level associated with a security item112 and/or training item 124.

FIG. 3 illustrates an interactive environment 202. Although FIGS. 3through 16 may be indicative of a particular type of security item 112and/or training item 124, each campaign may include a number ofdifferent security items 112 and/or training items 124, where eachsecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 may be based on a templatespecific to that security item 112 and/or training item.

According to FIG. 3 for example, interactive environment 202 may includewindows 302 for generating a security item and/or training itemcampaign. A first portion 304 of the window 302 may identify a uniformresource locator (if any) of an interactive environment page beingdisplayed in the window 302. A second portion 306 of the window 302 maydisplay a user identifier (ID) of a user currently logged into theinteractive environment 202. A third portion 308 of the window 302 maydisplay selectable widgets 310, 312, 314, 316, 318, 320 (e.g., tabs,icons, menu items, etc.) each associated with one or more areas of theinteractive environment 202. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates a“Dashboard” widget 310, a “Campaigns” widget 312, a “Reports” widget314, a “Training” widget 316, an “Admin” widget 318, and a “Help” widget320 have been displayed to the user. These windows, widgets, and/orfeatures of the interactive environment are exemplary. These windows,widgets, and/or features may be altered depending on the type ofcampaign, template, security item and/or training item associated withthe interactive environment 202.

The “Dashboard” widget 310 may link to and display data includingsummary information such as (but not limited to) a list of campaignsthat have completed, a list of campaigns that are in progress, a list ofcampaigns that are scheduled for a future start date; performance datafor one or more entities with respect to a given campaign and/or acrossmultiple campaigns; performance data for one or more entities withrespect to other entities for similar campaigns; and/or the like.Campaign similarity may be determined based on security item and/ortraining item sophistication scores, number of security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 presented to users of user device 104, 106, and/orthe like.

The “Campaigns” widget 312 link to and display data associated withsecurity item and/or training item campaigns that have been created. The“Campaigns” widget 312 may link to and display data displays options andinformation that allow the user of security system 102 to create/modifyone or more campaigns. The “Reports” widget 314 may link to and displaydata such that a user of security system 102 is able to view one or morereports associated with an entity with respect to one or more campaigns.Examples of reports may include (but are not limited to) reports showinghow an entity (e.g., an organization subscribing to the risk assessmentmanager 110) performed as a whole on one or more campaigns compared toother entities within the same and/or different industry; reportsshowing how individual groups within an entity performed on one or morecampaigns; reports showing how individual users (e.g., employees) of anentity performed on one or more campaigns; and/or the like. Reports maybe based on risk scores associated with each user, group, entity and/orcombination of any of the above. Risk scores may be based on a number ofdata points gathered, including security item intimation data 132,training item interaction data 134, user property data 136, and/ortechnical information 138. Risk scores and reports may be generated foran individual user, a group of users, and/or an entity including anumber of users (e.g., a company).

The “Training” widget 316 may link to and display data associated withtraining items 124 that may displayed to users of user system 104, 106to educate the user on various security items 112 and/or training items124. Training items 124 may be transmitted and displayed to a user ofuser system 104, 106 at any point in time, including before interaction,when a user has interacted with a security item in a way that that posesa security risk to the company, and/or after interaction. A “Training”widget may also allow a user of security system 102 to edit and/orcreate a training item 124 associated with a particular template.

The “Admin” widget 318 may link to and display administrative actionsassociated with risk assessment manager 110. Examples of administrativeactions may include (but are not limited to) managing the users ofsecurity system 102 who have access to the risk assessment manager 110;managing the registration information for companies subscribing to therisk assessment manager 110; and/or the like. The “Help” widget 320 maylink to and display help information regarding one or more aspects ofthe interactive environment 202.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example display of a “Campaigns” widget 312, asindicated by the dashed box 322. A “Campaign” widget 312 may changebased on the type of campaign and the data required to build and/orexecute a campaign. In this example, a campaign area 324 of theinteractive environment 202 may be displayed within the window 302 (oras a new window). A user of security system 102 may interact with thecampaign area 324 to create one or more campaigns. A user of securitysystem 102 also may modify a previously created campaign via thecampaign area 324. A campaign may include a security items 112 and/ortraining item 124 to be transmitted and displayed to a user system 104,106 associated with a specified recipients over a given period of time.Security items 112 and/or training items 124 may be based on one or moretemplates 114 and/or may be custom security items 112 and/or trainingitems 124. Templates 114 may include pre-defined fields, content, and/orformatting used by the risk assessment manager 110 to transmit securityitems 112 and/or training items 124 to a user system 104, 106 fordisplay to a specified user.

A campaign may include a name/title 326 for the campaign being created(or modified) in a first portion 328 of the campaign area 324. Alanguage 330 may be selected and/or entered for a campaign in a secondportion 332 of the campaign area 324. A campaign also may include aselected sophistication/difficulty level 334 for a template from a thirdportion 336 of the campaign area 324. A sophistication level 334 of atemplate may indicates the degree of complexity (or difficulty) that thecontent of a template (and its generated security items) may have. Thehigher the sophistication level, the more difficult it may become for auser of user system 104, 106 to determine that a security item 112generated from the template is untrustworthy and comprises one or moresecurity-based threats and/or to determine responses and/or interactionassociated with a training item 124.

A sophistication level may be determined based on a score and/or valueassociated with a particular template, security item 112, training item124, and/or any other data associated with a campaign and/or template.For example, each security item 112, training item 124, field, and/orother data included in a template may have an associated valueindicative of a level of difficulty associated with identifying asecurity risk. As an example of a value-based sophistication level, ascenario-based training item 124 relating to social media may have asophistication level of 9 out of 10 or 90 out of 100, or the like whenthe training item 124 includes about ninety (90) percent recognizableand/or familiar fiends, data, and/or the like, such as a known socialmedia provider, known user information such as a name, location, and/orpicture, and/or known friend data, such as names, locations, and/orpictures. As another example of a value-based sophistication level, ascenario-based training item 124 relating to mobile security may have asophistication level of 5 out of 10 or 50 out of 100, or the like whenthe training item includes fifty (50) percent recognizable and/orfamiliar fields, data, and/or the like such as a known mobile carrier,mobile number, associated email address, name, and/or the like. Althoughscores associated with percentages are used in this example, othermethods for calculating a value associated with a sophistication levelmay exist such as adding up value associated with each field, data,and/or other item included in a template, security item, training item,and/or campaign. Each sophistication level (e.g., low, medium, high) maybe associated with a range of values. For example, a low sophisticationlevel may be associated with a range of 0-33, a medium sophisticationlevel may be associated with 34-67, and a high sophistication level maybe associated with 68-100.

A template 114 may be assigned a low sophistication level, and inresponse, security system 102 may generate an easier version of asecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 as opposed to a template 114assigned a higher sophistication level. For example, a lowsophistication selection in template 114 may generate a security item112 and/or training item 124 with a message from a sender address thatis from an obvious untrustworthy source and comprise content that issuspicious and/or less difficult. A high sophistication selection intemplate 114 may generate a security item 112 and/or training item 124at security system 102 that includes a message with a spoofed senderaddress from a known or trustworthy source and include content that ismore difficult. A sophistication level of a security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 may be altered by changing the amount of informationwithin the security item 114 and/or training item 124 that guides theuser of user system 104, 106 in reducing computing network-basedsecurity risks. For example, when a security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 includes a password generation request or a questionnaire onhow to generate a security password, a higher sophistication level mayinclude displaying less guidance on generating a secure password than asecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 with a lower sophisticationlevel.

Once the user of security system 102 has entered template parameters(e.g., language, sophistication level, and/or the like), the campaignmanager 204 may generate a template list 338 by searching and returningtemplates 114 matching the template parameters. Campaign manager 204 maydynamically generate a template list 338 as a user of security system102 provides and/or changes template parameters. Campaign manager 204may dynamically update the template list 338 based on information storedwithin each of the templates 114 and/or their template profiles 116.

FIG. 4 illustrates examples of template profiles 116. Each row 402, 404,406 in the table 400 may correspond to a template profile. Each profile402, 404, 406 may be stored separate from one another and/or in acombined manner. Template profiles may not be required and the profileinformation may simply be included within and/or attached to the actualtemplates 114. Template profiles may define the data included in atemplates 114.

The table 400 may include a number of columns, each storing a differentset of information. For example, the table 400 may include a firstcolumn 408 entitled “Template ID;” a second column 410 entitled“Template Title;” a third column 412 entitled “Type;” a fourth column414 entitled “Difficulty Level;” a fifth column 416 entitled “Fields;” asixth column 418 entitled “Campaign ID;” and/or a seventh column 420entitled “Statistics.” The “Record ID” column 408 may include entries422 identifying a template associated with the template profile. The“Template Title” column 410 may include entries 424 with the title/nameof an associated template.

The “Type” column 412 may include entries 426 identifying the securityitem type (if any) associated with a template. For example, a templateprofile may be associated with a template for generating an introductorysecurity item 112 and/or training item 124, a phishing-related securityitem 112 and/or training item 124, a social media security item 112and/or training item 124, a mobile security related security item 112and/or training item 124, a remote and/or travel related security item112 and/or training item 124, a password related security item 112and/or training item 124, a social engineering related security item 112and/or training item 124, a web safety related security item 112 and/ortraining item 124, a data protection related security item 112 and/ortraining item 124, an email security related security item 112 and/ortraining item 124, a computer security related security item 112 and/ortraining item 124, and/or a physical security related security item 112and/or training item 124.

A “Difficulty Level” column 414 may include entries 428 identifying asophistication level associated with a generated security item 112and/or training item 124. As described, a sophistication level mayalter, for example, the level of difficulty in determining that asecurity item 112 generated from the associated template comprisessecurity threats, or the amount of guidance within a training item 124for reducing security risks. A “Fields” column 416 may include entries430 identifying fields of the template (e.g., a “From:” field, an “EmailAddress:” field, a “Subject:” field, and/or a “Message:” field). The“Campaign” column 418 may include entries 432 identifying the campaigns(if any) that the associated template is associated with.

The “Statistics” column 420 may include entries 434 with various typesof statistical information associated with a template. For example,statistical entries may include information such as (but not limited to)the number of times security items 112 and/or training items 124generated from a template were interacted with (e.g., opening asimulated phishing message, completing a training video and/orquestionnaire) by a recipient at user system 104, 106; the number oftimes a simulation associated with a security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 generated from the template were interacted with by therecipient at user computer 104, 106, and/or the like.

As discussed above, the campaign manager 204 may dynamically update atemplate list 338 based on information stored within each of thetemplates 114 and/or the template profiles 116. In the example shown inFIG. 3, a user of security system 102 may selected a sophisticationlevel, such as “high,” “medium,” or “low.” Upon selection of asophistication level, a campaign manager 204 may search templateprofiles 116 for templates having a matching sophistication level. Thecampaign manager 204 may identify and return these templates 114 in atemplate list 338 with at least the titles/names of the identifiedtemplates 114 obtained from the template profile 116.

A security system 102 user may select a template 114 from the templatelist 338, as indicated by the dashed box 340. A campaign manager 204 mayreturn and a selected template 514, within the interactive environment202. For example, FIG. 5 illustrates a selected template 514 associatedwith a security item 112 that includes a message with a simulatedsecurity threat. The template 514 may be displayed within the campaignarea 324, within a new window, and/or the like. A template 514, such asthe example provided in FIG. 5, may include a number of fields. Forexample, in a template 514 based off of a security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 that includes a message, the template 514 may includea “From” field 502, a “Communication Address” field 504, a “Subject”field 506, a “Content” field 508, an “Attachments” field 510, and/or a“Training” Field 512. These fields 502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 512 may bepre-populated with default values, data, and/or information storedwithin the template 514 itself and/or its template profile 116. A userof security system 102 may also enters and/or select values and/or datato be included in each field.

For example, FIG. 5 illustrates the “From” field 502 may receive data516 such as a name. This name may be included in each security item 112and/or training item 124 generated from the template, and may bedisplayed to a recipient user at user system 104, 106 as the sender ofthe security item 112 and/or training item 124. The “CommunicationAddress” field 504 may receive data such as a user name 518 and a domain520. This data 518, 520 may be added to each security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 generated from the template 514, and may be displayedto the recipient user at user system 104, 106 as an email address of thesender of the security item 112 and/or training item 124. The “Subject”field 506 may receive data 522 that may be added to each security item112 and/or training item 124 generated from the template 514, and may bedisplayed to the recipient user at user system 104, 106 as the subjectof the security item 112 and/or training item 124.

The “Content” field 508 may include data 524 such as characters, text,images, videos, audio, interactive applications, hyperlinks, and/or thelike that are added to each security item 112 and/or training item 124generated from the template 514, and displayed to the recipient user atuser system 104, 106 as the body the security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124. The “Content” field 508 may include one or more simulatedsecurity-based threats that are added to each security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 generated from the template 514.

For example, FIG. 5 illustrates a “Content” field 508 including ahyperlink 526, and two information fields 528, 530 denoted by the pairof asterisks symbols. The hyperlink 526 may include a simulatedsecurity-based threat that, when selected by a user of user system 104,106, requests a training item 124 from risk assessment manager 110 todisplay training data to the user at user system 104, 106. A hyperlink526 also may link to a webpage or an application page that requests arecipient on user device 104, 106 enter his/her email account user name,password, and/or other personal/secure information.

The information fields 528, 530 may be dynamically populated by the itemgenerator 206 when generating a security item 112 and/or training item124 from the template 514 based on the intended recipient at user system104, 106. For example, the first information field 528 illustrated inFIG. 5 includes the recipient's first name added at that location withinthe security item 112 and/or training item 124. The second informationfield 530 may indicate that the recipient's email address is to be addedat that location within the security item 112 and/or training item 124.Therefore, each security item 112 and/or training item 124 generatedfrom this template 514 may be personalized to the recipient at usersystem 104, 106.

The “Attachments” field 510 may include a file identifier 532 for a filethat is to be attached to the security item 112 and/or training item 124(e.g., a file comprising simulated malicious software/scripts,phishing-based hyperlinks, interactive application, audio/video files,and/or the like). A user at user system 104, 106 may be presented with alist of files to select from. The file identifier 532 of a selected filemay be displayed in the “Attachments” field 510.

The “Training” field 512 may include a training item identifier 534 fora training item 124 that is to be displayed to a user when he/sheinteracts with the security item 112 and/or training item 124. Forexample, a user at user system 104, 106 may receive a security item 112with a simulated insecure file. When the user attempts to open theinsecure file associated with the security item 112, risk assessmentmanager 110 may transmit a training item 124 associated with thesecurity item 112. As another example, a user at user system 104, 106may be presented with a training item 124 that includes an interactiveapplication and/or questionnaire. Based on the interaction data and/orresponses received from the user at user system 104, 106, a secondtraining item 124 may be transmitted from the risk assessment manager110 to user system 104, 106. The training item 124 (or second trainingitem 124) may be identified by the risk assessment manager usingidentifier 534.

Data within each of the fields 502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 512 may bealtered to provide the security item 112 and/or training item 124generated from the template 514 with a given degree of sophistication(i.e., a sophistication level). For example, security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 may include a message related to actual and/orsimulated security threats, the sophistication level of security item112 and/or training item 124 may be altered based on the content of themessage. In this example, altering a sophistication level may altervarious content, such as sender data to entice a recipient at usersystem 104, 106 to trust the message, interact with one or more securityitems 112 and/or training items 124 within the message, and/or the like.A recipient at user device 104, 106 may be less likely to determine thata message includes a security-based threat if the message has a highersophistication level as compared to a lower sophistication level.Altering a sophistication level of a security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 may change the amount of guidance provided within the securityitem 112 and/or training item 124 on how to reduce computingnetwork-based security risks.

A security item 112 and/or training item 124 also may include a trustindicator. A trust indicator may include a personal trust indicatorand/or a general trust indicator. A trust indicator may be generated foreach security item 112, training item 124, and/or template. A trustindicator may include information specific to the user receiving asecurity item 112 and/or training item 124. For example, a trustindicator may include a name (e.g., user's name, company name,coworker's name, friend's name, and/or the like), picture, location,URL, company data, logo, trademark, and/or other recognizable dataassociated with a user and/or company. A trust indicator may alsoinclude a value associated with the trust indicator to indicate asophistication level associated with the trust indicator.

A trust indicator may increase the sophistication level of a securityitem 112 and/or training item 124. A trust indicator may includespecific content, a specific content type, and/or specific contentattributes to increase a sophistication level of security item 112and/or training item 124. The following examples of fields are not meantto be limiting and trust indicators may be provided for any field in anytemplate for a security item 112 and/or training item 124. For example,an introductory security item 112 and/or training item 124 may includefields and/or data indicative of the sender of the introductory item,the recipient of the introductory item, and/or the like; a social mediasecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 may include a social mediacompany name fields, friend fields, family fields, picture fields,content/postings fields, and/or the like; a mobile security item 112and/or training item 124 may include fields relating to a mobilesecurity company, recent mobile security risks, and/or the like; aremote or travel security item 112 and/or training item may includefields relating to travel agents, travel companies, hotels, modes oftransportation, transit companies, confirmation numbers, and/or thelike; password security items 112 and/or training items 124 may includefields associated with password clues, security questions, securityanswers, password requirements, and/or the like; safety, protection,and/or security-related security items 112 and/or training items 124 mayinclude fields associated with protection companies, email providers,security companies, malware products, spyware products, antivirusproducts, and/or the like. Additional types of security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 and/or additional fields may be included as describedherein.

By way of example, a “From” field 502 of the template 514 may include atrust indicator such as the name of someone familiar to a recipient,which may make the generated security item 112 and/or training item 124more trustworthy to a recipient at user device 104, 106 and increasesthe likelihood that the recipient will interact with the security item112 and/or training item 124. Field 502 may include an unfamiliar namethe generated security item 112 and/or training item 124, decreasing thelikelihood that the recipient at user system 104, 106 will interact withthe security item 112 and/or training item 124. For example, a specificname, a name with an attribute of being familiar recipients, and/or thelike may be a trust indicator.

An “Email Address” field 504 may include a trust indicator such as ausername and/or domain or a finer grain trust indicator such as ausername/domain with a given degree of sophistication, familiarity,sensibility, and/or the like. A “Subject” field 506 may include trustindicators such as a subject heading or a finer grain trust indicatorsuch as a subject heading with a given degree of sophistication,familiarity, sensibility, and/or the like.

A “Content” field 508 may include trust indicators, such as trustindicators that personalize a generated message to the recipient at usersystem 104, 106. For example, a trust indicator within a “Content” field508 may include the recipient first name, last name, first and lastnames, addresses, work identifier number, and/or any other informationthat is personal to the user at user system 104, 106. A trust tokenwithin the “Content” field 508 may include an information field (e.g.,*First_Name, *Email_Address*, etc.) that may be dynamically populated bythe item generator 206 with information personal to the recipient atuser system 104, 106. In addition, a “Content” field 508 (and/or otherfields such as a “Subject” field 506″) may include trust indicators suchas watermarks, images, text, and/or the like that indicate a level ofsophistication associated with the content of the security item 112and/or training item 124.

A sophistication calculator 210 may calculate and/or alter a calculatedsophistication level for each template based on the content, the type ofcontent, and attributes of the content within the template. For example,trust indicators may be assigned a weight or number points. Asophistication calculator 210 may calculate a sophistication level of atemplate (and/or a security item 112 and/or training item 124) as thesum of the weights or points assigned to the trust indicators within thetemplate.

FIG. 6 illustrates a set of sophistication metrics 629 with variousexamples of trust indicators (e.g., specific template content, contenttypes, and/or content attributes) along with an assigned weights ornumber of points. Sophistication metrics 629 of FIG. 6 are not limitedto trust indicators. For example, these metrics may also include itemsthat negatively affect the sophistication level of a template (and itsmessages) as well.

Template content items such as security item 112 and/or training item124 content may be associated with a trust indicator resulting in a“high”, “medium”, or “low” sophistication level. For example, a domainname that is familiar to the recipient such as a company's domain name,customer domain name, bank domain name, and/or the like may give thedomain name a high sophistication level. A familiar domain name may be ahigh sophistication level because the familiarity greatly increases aperceived legitimacy of the security item 112 and/or training item 124.As another example, sensible but not familiar information, such as adomain name, may have a medium sophistication level. As another example,nonsensical information, such as a nonsensical domain name, may have alow sophistication level since it greatly reduces the perceivedlegitimacy of the security item 112 and/or training item 124.

A sophistication calculator 210 may analyze a template 514 and identifytrust indicators matching the trust indicators within the sophisticationmetrics 130. Sophistication calculator 210 may then add the weightsassociated with each identified trust indicator together to generate asophistication score. The calculator 210 may then determine asophistication level of the template based on the sophistication score.For example, a sophistication score below a first weight threshold mayindicate that a template 514 is of a low sophistication level, asophistication score below a second weight threshold and equal to thefirst weight threshold may indicate that a template 514 is of a mediumsophistication level, and a sophistication score below a third weightthreshold and equal to the second weight threshold may indicate that atemplate 514 is of a high sophistication level.

For example, template 514 includes a “From” field 502, an “EmailAddress” field 504, a “Subject Field” 506, and a “Content” field 508. Asophistication calculator 208 may analyze the “From” field 502 andidentify its content, the type of the content and/or the attributes ofthe content. In this example, a sophistication calculator 208 maydetermine that the “From” field 502 includes a specific first name aspecific last name. A sophistication calculator 208 may compare thespecific content to the trust indicators in the sophistication metrics130 and determine if a match exists. If so, a sophistication calculator208 may assign weights of the matching trust indicators to the “From”field 502. A trust indicator may not limited to specific content items,but may also be a specific content type. For example, a trust indicatormay be the content type of “Sender First Name”, “Sender Last Name”,“Sender First and Last Name”, and/or the like. If a field does notinclude any content items/values, the sophistication calculator 208 maysubtract points from the template's sophistication score.

As discussed above a trust indicator may alter a specific contentattribute such as low sophistication, medium sophistication, highsophistication, and/or a combination thereof. A high sophisticationcontent attribute may include a more familiar attribute, such as afamiliar name in the “From” 502 field. Sophistication metrics 130 mayinclude data that defines what constitutes a low sophistication level,medium sophistication level, and/or high sophistication level. Forexample, data may include a rule dictating that a name with a givennumber of consecutive consonants, a mixture of letters and numbers,and/or like may be of a low sophistication level. As another example,data may include a rule dictating that a name associated with aparticular company, employee, and/or the like may be of a highsophistication level. As another example, data may include a ruledictating that data not meeting a low sophistication rule or a highsophistication rule may be of a medium sophistication level.

A sophistication calculator 208 may analyze each field in a template.For example, sophistication calculator 208 may analyze an “EmailAddress” field 504 and determine that this field includes an emailaddress of a sender with a user name and domain. The sophisticationcalculator 208 may determine that the username and/or domain name is ofa particular sophistication. For example, the sophistication calculator208 may determine that a domain name is of high sophistication becauseit is familiar to the recipient at user system 104, 106 and results inan increased likelihood that the recipients will interact with asecurity item 112 and/or training item 124. A domain may be of a lowsophistication if there is a high likelihood that the recipient at usersystem 104, 106 may not determine that a security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 generated from the template 514 indicates a securitythreat. The sophistication calculator 208 may analyze the sophisticationmetrics 130 to identify trust indicators and other weighted featuresmatching the identified content, content types (user/domain names) andcontent attributes (high sophistication domain name). The sophisticationcalculator 208 may assign the weights of the identified trust indicatorsto the “Email Address” field 504. If the “Email Address” field 504 doesnot include any content items/values, the sophistication calculator 208may subtract points from the template's sophistication score.

As another example, where a template includes a “Subject” field 506, thesophistication calculator 208 may analyze the “Subject” field 506 anddetermine that this field 506 includes at least one content item. Thesophistication calculator 208 may analyze the “Subject” field 506 todetermine attributes of the content item, such as whether the contentitem is sensible or nonsensical and/or familiar or unfamiliar. Thesophistication calculator 208 may analyze the sophistication metrics 130to identify trust indicators and other weighted features matching theidentified content items, their types, and/or and their attributes(sensible, nonsensical, familiar, unfamiliar, etc.). The sophisticationcalculator 208 may assign weights of the identified trust indicators ofthe “Subject” field 506. If the “Subject” field 506 does not include anycontent items/values, the sophistication calculator 208 may subtractpoints from the template's sophistication score.

As another example, where a template includes a “Content” field 508, the“Content” field 508 may be analyzed by the sophistication calculator208. Sophistication calculator 208 may determine that this field 508includes an information field 528 that will display a recipient's firstname, an information field 530 that will display a recipient's emailaddress, and/or a hyperlink 526 that represents a security-based threat.The sophistication calculator 208 may analyze the sophistication metrics130 to identify trust indicators and other weighted features that matchthese content items, their types, and/or the attributes. For example,the sophistication calculator 208 may search for trust indicatorsassociated with information fields, hyperlinks, and/or the like.Sophistication calculator 208 may determine a sophistication level forthe actual content of the message in addition to any security item 112and/or training item 124 The “Content” field 508 content may bepersonalized since it includes both the recipient's first name and emailaddress. As an example, the sophistication calculator 208 may determinethat the content of the “Content” field 508 is of medium sophistication.

If the content includes additional identifying information, such as arecipient's first or last name, the content may be of a highsophistication level. Once the sophistication calculator 208 identifiestrust indicators matching the content, content items, and/or contentattributes of the “Content” field 508, the sophistication calculator 208may assign the weights of the identified trust indicators to the field508. Content may also decrease a template's sophistication. For example,where content includes a hyperlink that is nonsensical (e.g., made up ofrandom characters, comprises suspicious domains, and/or the like), thismay negatively affect a sophistication level. Content that negativelyaffects the sophistication of a security item 112 and/or training item124 may decrease the sophistication score according to thesophistication metrics 119.

Once a sophistication calculator 208 completely analyzes template 514, asophistication calculator 208 may transmit, display, and/or store asophistication score 534 and/or corresponding sophistication level forthe template 514. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the template 514comprises a sophistication score of 14 points out of a total of 40points.

If the user of security system 102 is satisfied with the content of thetemplate 514 the user may add and store the template 514 with acampaign. A campaign profile 122 may then be updated to include anidentifier identifying the newly added template 514 to the campaign.Multiple templates 114 may be added and/or stored with a campaign.

Campaign manager 202 may target user options 722 to a user of usersystem 104, 106, as illustrated in FIG. 7. Target user options 722 maydisplayed to a user of security system 102 within the campaign area 324,within a new window/page of the interactive environment, and/or thelike. A first target user option 714 may allow a user to select users ofuser system 104, 106, groups (e.g., finance group, marketing group,information technology group, legal group, intern group, etc.) withinthe entity associated with the campaign, and/or an entire entity. Eachgroups may include one or more users of user system 104, 106 to receivea security item 112 and/or training item 124 generated based on thetemplate(s) of the campaign and/or manually generated.

Campaign manager 204 may transmit and/or display a list of groups notincluded within a campaign and a list of groups currently selected forthe campaign. When a user of security system 102 selects a group,campaign manager 204 may display a list of individuals within theselected group. A user of security system 102 may select one or moreindividuals in the group and add to or remove them from arecipient/target list. Campaign manager 204 may display the name and/oridentifier of employees.

A second target user option 716 allows the user to search for specificindividuals to add to the recipient/target list for the currentcampaign. For example, the user enters either the first name and/or lastname of an individual or enters a partial first name and/or a partiallast name into a search box. As the user enters this information thecampaign manager 204 displays a list of individuals with names matchingthe text entered into the search box. The user is able to select one ormore of these users and add them to the target user list. Theindividuals within the selected groups and the individually selectedrecipients are then displayed in a target user area 718. In oneembodiment, the total number of selected target users is displayed tothe user in a portion 720 of the interactive environment 202.

Campaign manager 204 may populate and/or save the target user options722 with group and employee information based on client and employeeprofiles. The campaign manager 204 may analyze the client profiles 120to identify the various groups associated with the client and alsoanalyze the employee profiles 122 to identify the employees of theclient and the groups of the client associated with the employees. FIG.8 illustrates examples of client (e.g., an entity utilizing the riskassessment manager 110) profiles and FIG. 9 shows examples of employeeprofiles. In the example shown in FIG. 8, each row 802, 804, 806 in thetable 800 may correspond to a client profile. Each profile 802, 804, 806also may store separate from one another.

The table 800 may include columns, each storing a different set ofinformation. In this example, the table 800 includes a first column 808entitled “Client ID;” a second column 810 entitled “Campaign ID;” athird column 812 entitled “Address;” a fourth column 814 entitled “PhoneNumber;” a fifth column 816 entitled “Contact;” a sixth column 818entitled “Groups;” and a seventh column 820 entitled “Statistics.” Thesecolumns of data are exemplary, additional columns of data may beincluded in table 800.

The “Client ID” column 808 may include entries 822 identifying a clientassociated with a client profile. The “Campaign ID” column 810 mayinclude entries 824 identifying each security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 campaign that a client participated in. Entries 824 under the“Campaign ID” column 810 may include a pointer to the campaign profilecorresponding to the campaign identified in this column 810. The“Address” column 812 may include entries 826 identifying an address ofthe client. The “Phone Number” column 814 may include entries 828identifying a phone number of the client. The “Contact” column 816 mayinclude entries 830 identifying a client contact for campaigncorrespondence. These entries may include, for example, the name of thecontact, the phone number of the contact, the email address of thecontact, and/or the like.

The “Groups” column 818 may include entries 832 identifying each of theorganizational groups within the client such as, but not limited to,finance, marketing, legal, information technology, interns, supportstaff, and/or the like. The “Statistics” column 820 may include entries834 with various types of statistical information for the client withrespect to each campaign participated in. For example, statisticalinformation for a given campaign may include information such as, butnot limited to, a number of employees that interacted with security item112 and/or training item 124, a number of employees that did notinteract with a security item 112 and/or training item 124, a number ofemployees that interacted with a security item 112 and/or training item124 in a way indicative of no or little security risk (e.g., generated apassword with a given degree of security, answered a given number ofquestions in a questionnaire correctly, etc.), a number of employeesthat interacted with a security item 112 and/or training item 124 in away indicative of a security risk (e.g., activating malware, spyware, avirus, downloading a file, answering questions incorrectly, etc.), anumber of employees that reported a security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 to an administrator, and/or the like.

As discussed above, FIG. 9 illustrates an employee profile 118. Table900 may include a first column 908 having the employee ID of theemployee associated with the profile 118; a second column 910 entitled“Communication Address;” a third column 912 entitled “Client ID;” afourth column 914 entitled “Campaign;” a fifth column 916 entitled“Security Item;” a sixth column 918 entitled “Action;” a seventh column920 entitled “System Attributes;” and/or an eighth column 922 entitled“Statistics.” These columns of table 900 are exemplary. Table 900 mayinclude additional columns with various data. The “Employee ID” column908 may include entries 919 identifying an employee associated with theemployee profile. This column 908 may also include an entry 923identifying the role of the employee within the client/company, and anentry 925 identifying the group within the client/company that theemployee is a part of. The “Client ID” column 910 may include entries924 identifying a client that the employee works for.

The “Communication Address” column 912 may include entries 926identifying the messaging address (e.g., email address) of the employee.The “Campaign” column 914 may include entries 928 identifying a campaignin which the employee received security items 112 and/or training items124. In one embodiment, the entries 928 under this column 914 mayinclude a pointer to a client profile 122 corresponding to the clientidentified in this column. The “Security Item” column 916 may includeentries 930 identifying the security item 112 and/or training item 124for which the employee was a recipient in the identified campaign. The“Action” column 918 may include entries 932 identifying the action orbehavior that the employee took with respect to the correspondingsecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 identified in the profile. Alack of interaction with a security item 112 and/or training item 124may be considered an action taken by the recipient. The “SystemAttributes” column 920 may include entries 934 identifying technicaldetails of any employee's system (e.g., user system 104, 106) used tointeract with the corresponding security item 112 and/or training item124 identified in the profile. The “Score” column 921 may includeentries 938 identifying the employee's risk score.

Returning to FIG. 7, a campaign manager 206 may present campaigndelivery options 722 via the interactive environment 202. Campaigndelivery options 722 may be displayed within the campaign area 324,within a new window, and/or the like. The campaign delivery options 722may allow a user of security system 102 to configure delivery parametersassociated with a campaign. A first delivery option 714 may schedule acampaign for immediate delivery. For example, as soon as the user ofsecurity system 102 finalizes and saves a campaign the security itemgenerator 206 may automatically generate a security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 to be transmitted to the designated recipients at usersystem 104, 106 based on a template included 114 in the campaign. Asecond delivery option 716 may allow a user of security system 102 toenter a starting date and/or time and/or an ending date and/or time.When the specified start date and/or time occurs, the security itemgenerator 206 may automatically generate and transmit a security item112 and/or training item 124 to be transmitted to designated recipientsat user system 104, 106 based on at least a template included 114 in thecampaign. A third delivery option 718 may allow a user of securitysystem 102 to select a staggered delivery of the campaign. When a userof security system 102 specifies an end date and/or time 720 fordelivery, campaign generation and delivery may occur until that dateand/or time.

When the user has selected a staggered delivery option, the securityitem generator 206 may automatically generate a security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 to be sent to designated recipients at user system104, 106 based on a template 114 included in the campaign when thestart/send condition has been met (i.e., the first or second deliveryoption 714, 716). The security item generator 206 may transmit thisgenerated security item 112 and/or training item 124 at random and/orpreselected times to designated recipients at user system 104, 106 suchthat all recipients have been sent the security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 by a specified end date 720. A staggered delivery option mayensure that the security item 112 and/or training item 124 is not sentto all designated recipients at the same time.

When a campaign only includes a single template 114 thescheduling/delivery parameters entered by the user for the campaign mayapply to this single template 114. A campaign may include multipletemplates 114 with each template generating a different security item112 and/or training item 124. For example, a campaign may be anintroductory campaign designed to generate an initial risk score for auser of user system 104, 106. As another example, a campaign may includea number of security items and/or training items relevant to aparticulate topic (e.g., passwords, remote/travel, web safety, and/orthe like).

Default scheduling/delivery parameters and/or user definedscheduling/delivery parameters may be applied to each security item 112and/or training item 124 in a campaign. For example, a user of securitysystem 102 may define scheduling/delivery parameters for a first set ofsecurity items 112 and/or training items 124 generated from a firsttemplate 114. Then, a user of security system 102 may definescheduling/delivery parameters for a second set of security items 112and/or training items 124 generated from a second template 114 in thecampaign. In this example, a campaign manager 206 may display to a userof security system 102, a list of templates 114 selected for thecampaign within the delivery option area 712. The user may select afirst of these templates 114 and define the scheduling/deliveryparameters, as discussed above. The user may then select a second ofthese templates 114 and define the scheduling/delivery parameters usingthe process discussed above. Scheduling/delivery parameters also may bedefined as part of the template selection/modification process such thatthe user of security system 102 is not required to wait until alltemplates have been added to the campaign before configuring thescheduling/delivery parameters of each template 114.

When scheduling the transmission of different sets of security items 112and/or training items 124 generated from different templates and/or thathave been manually generated, each of the different sets of securityitems 112 and/or training items 124 may be transmitted based on temporalparameters and/or rules. For example, a first set of security items 112and/or training items 124 may be sent starting on a given date. A secondset of security items 112 and/or training items 124 may then be sent ona different date, after a predetermined amount of time has passed aftersending the first set of security items 112 and/or training items 124. Auser of security system may define or select one or more rulesindicating that a first set of security items 112 and/or training items124 are to be set as the initial security items, while the second set ofsecurity items are to be sent based on feedback obtained from the firstset of security items 112 and/or training items 124.

For example, a security item 112 and/or training item 124 from a firstset of security items 112 and/or training items 124 may be associatedwith a first sophistication score such as a low sophistication score. Asecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 from the first set ofsecurity items 112 and/or training items 124 may be sent to thedesignated recipients at user system 104, 106. A second security item112 and/or training item 124 from a second set of security items 112and/or training items 124 may be associated with a second sophisticationscore, which is a higher sophistication score than the first securityitem 112 and/or training item 124.

In other words, the second security item 112 and/or training item 124may be less suspicious than the first security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124. In this example, the user of security system 102 may define arule (or selects a rule from a plurality of predefines rules) thatstates a second security item 112 and/or training item 124 may be sentto a recipient at user system 104, 106 only if the user has previouslyperformed in a particular manner with security items 112 and/or trainingitems 124 associated with the first sophistication level. Accordingly, asecond security item 112 and/or training item 124 may be sent to arecipient at user system 104, 106 based on the recipient's performancehistory and/or risk score.

A campaign may be configured to send different security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 to different recipients based on a performancehistory, role, associated group, risk score, and/or the like. Forexample, a rule may be defined by a user of security system 102 suchthat if a recipient at user system 104, 106 performs in a previouscampaign such that the user is proficient/trained in a particularsecurity item 112 and/or training item 124, security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 for a subsequent campaign may selected based on thesophistication level of the previous campaign and/or a current riskscore of a user of user system 104, 106. A user of security system 102also may define a rule that states recipients associated with a givenrole are to receive security items 112 and/or training items 124 of agiven sophistication level. Scheduling parameters and/or rules may bestored within a campaign profile 122 for the corresponding campaign.

In addition to configuring the scheduling/delivery parameters and/orrules for a campaign, a user of security system 102 may associate atraining item 124 with a template 114 (or to a specific security item112 and/or training item 124). For example, FIG. 7 illustrates an option722 that allows a user to select and/or create one or more trainingitems 124 for a given template 114 of a campaign. If a template isalready associated with a default training item 124, a user of securitysystem 102 may modify the training item 124 and/or select a new trainingitem 124 for the template 114.

A training item 124 may include a text, graphics, audio, video, and/orthe like to transmit to a user of user system 104, 106 before, during,and/or after interaction with a security item and/or first training item124. For example, a training item 124 associated with a templateincluding a security item 112 may display the associated training item124 before, during, and after interaction with the security item 112 toeducate a user at user system 104, 106 about a security item 112. When atemplate includes a first training item 124 (e.g., a questionnaireregarding a particular topic), a second training item 124 may beassociated with the first training item 124 to educate a user of usersystem 104, 106 about the subject of the first training item 124. Forexample, a training item 124 that includes a questionnaire may associatea second training item 124 to be displayed when a user at user system104, 106 answers a question incorrectly.

For interaction with an associated training item 124 before and/orduring interaction with a security item 112 and/or initial training item124, an associated training item 124 may include text, audio, and/orvideo to inform a user at user system 104, 106 about the security item112 and/or initial training item 124. An associated training item 124may be displayed at user system 104, 106 within a web page via theuser's web browser, within a document in a text editing program, viaaudio, via a movie, and/or the like.

Once the user of security system 102 has created and/or modified acampaign (e.g., provided a name for the campaign, selected one or moretemplates for the campaign, provided scheduling/delivery parametersand/or rules for the campaign), a campaign may be saved in data storageassociated with security system 102. A campaign may be saved and/orstored at any point during the creation or modification process withsecurity system 102.

The campaign manager 206 may create and/or update a campaign profile 122for a campaign based on information provided by the user of securitysystem 102. FIG. 10 shows campaign profiles 122 where each campaignprofile 122 includes a number of entries (rows) 1002, 1004, 1006 in atable 1000. Each campaign profile 1002, 1004, 1006 may be storedseparate from one another. For example, table 1000 may include a firstcolumn 1008 entitled “Campaign ID;” a second column 1010 entitled“Campaign Title;” a third column 1012 entitled “Template IDs;” a fourthcolumn 1014 entitled “Client;” a fifth column 1016 entitled “TargetUsers;” a sixth column 1018 entitled “Scheduling Parameters;” a seventhcolumn 1020 entitled “Rules;” and/or an eight column 1021 entitled“Statistics.” Table 1000 may include additional columns to store anyadditional information relevant to a campaign.

The “Campaign ID” column 1008 may include entries 1022 identifying thecampaign associated with the campaign profile. The “Campaign Title”column 1010 may include entries 1024 with the title/name of theassociated campaign. The “Template IDs” column 1012 may include entries1026 identifying the templates and/or a pointer to the template profiles116 associated with the templates that have been added to the campaign.

The “Client” column 1014 may include entries 1028 identifying the clientassociated with the campaign. The “Target Users” column 1016 may includeentries 1030 identifying the users and/or user systems 104, 106 who areto receive security items 112 and/or training items 124 associated withthe campaign. The “Scheduling Parameters” column 1018 may includeentries 1032 with the scheduling parameters for the campaign. Asdiscussed above, the scheduling parameters may indicate when a campaignis to begin/end, if the delivery of security items 112 and/or trainingitems 124 is to be staggered, and/or the like. The “Rules” column 1020may include entries 1034 with the delivery rules for one or moresecurity items 112 and/or training items 124 included in the campaign.

As discussed above, a delivery rule may include a rule that identifiesan initial set of security items 112 and/or training items 124 to besent to recipients at user systems 104, 106 and a subsequent set ofsecurity items 112 and/or training items 124 that are to be sent to therecipients at user systems 104, 106 based on the recipients' performancewith respect to the initial set of security items 112 and/or trainingitems 124 and/or a risk score. A delivery rule also may indicate that afirst set of security items 112 and/or training items 124 are to be sentto a first set of recipients at user systems 104, 106 with a first roletype and a second set of different security items 112 and/or trainingitems 124 are to be sent to a second set of recipients at user systems104, 106 with a second role type that is different than the first roletype.

The “Statistics” column 1021 may include entries 1036 with various typesof statistics associated with a campaign. Statistics associated with acampaign may include information such as (but not limited to) the numberof times security items 112 and/or training items 124 generated from atemplate were interacted with (e.g., opening a simulated phishingmessage, completing a training video and/or questionnaire) by arecipient at user system 104, 106; the number of times a simulationassociated with a security item 112 and/or training item 124 generatedfrom the template were interacted with by the recipient at user computer104, 106; the starting date of the campaign the stopping date of thecampaign; the status of the campaign (e.g., pending, running, completed,etc.); and/or the like.

Assessing Security Risks of Users in Computing Networks

Once a campaign has been saved the risk assessment manager 110 may usethe associated templates to generate one or more security items 112and/or training items 124 to transmit to target users at user systems104, 106 for presentation.

Security items 112 and/or training items 124 may be presented to targetusers via an input/output interface on user systems 104, 106 without acampaign. Manually generated security items 112 and/or training items124 (i.e., security items 112 and/or training items 124 generatedwithout a template) may also be presented to target users. As will bediscussed in greater detail below, the risk assessment manager 110 mayreceive input data 131 collected on user systems 104, 106 based on atarget user's interaction with security items 112 and/or training items124, data 133 collected based on existing user data (e.g., usernames,passwords, security questions, and/or the like), and/or data 138collected based on technical information associated with the user'sdevice.

The risk assessment manager 110 may use these inputs to calculate a userrisk score. This user risk score may provide an organization with aquantified indication as to the level of risk a given user exposes theorganization to with respect to the security of its computing networks.The user risk score may be used to influence, guide, and/or determinethe frequency and sophistication level of future campaigns, securityitems and/or training items 124. The user risk score may also be usedwithin an end user's technical security controls to determine how a useris treated on a technical level (e.g. firewall, proxy, or emailrestrictions, more detailed logging over user's activities, etc.). Forexample, when a user's risk score is within a predetermined range,various security controls may be implemented associated with the user.

A security item 112 and/or training item 124 campaign may be manuallystarted by a user of security system 102 or automatically started basedon scheduling parameters. If a campaign is started automatically, thecampaign manager 204 may identify the scheduling parameters associatedwith a campaign from the campaign profile 122 of the campaign. Thecampaign manager 204 may monitor for a temporal condition to occur thatsatisfies the scheduling parameters. For example, if a schedulingparameter states that the campaign is to start on Date_A at Time_A, whenthe campaign manager 204 detects Date_A at Time_A occurs the campaignmanager 204 may automatically start the campaign.

Once a campaign has been started, the security item generator 206 mayanalyze the profile 122 of the campaign to identify users and/or usersystems 104, 106 who are to be presented with security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 as part of the campaign. For example, the itemgenerator 206 may analyze the “Target Users” entry 1016 of the profile122 and identify a user group (finance, marketing, legal, etc.),individual user IDs, individual communication addresses (emailaddresses, instant messaging addresses, phone number, etc.), and/or thelike. If a user group is provided, the security item generator 206 mayanalyze employee profiles 118 to identify employees associated with thecampaign belonging to the identified group.

For example, consider a campaign CP_1 created for client Client_1. Theprofile for CP_1 may include user groups such as the Finance group, theInformation Technology Group. The profile may also include a recipientwith the user ID Emp_1, a recipient with the user ID Empl_15, anindividual with an email address of emp_A@domain.

For each of the identified groups, the security item generator 206 mayanalyze the employee profiles 118 to identify employees of clientClient_1A with a group entry matching, for example, “Finance” or“Information Technology.” This information may be stored within theclient profile 120 and/or the campaign profiles 122. Based on theprofiles shown in FIG. 9, the security item generator 206 may identifyemployee Emp_1 as belonging to the Information Technology group ofclient Client_1. Therefore, the security item generator 206 may retrievethe communication address (e.g., Msg_Addr_A) of Emp_1 (or any otheridentifier that allows a security item 112 and/or training item 124 totransmitted to the appropriate user at user device 104, 106). Thesecurity item generator 206 may perform a similar process with respectto user IDs that were identified in the campaign profile 122.

Item generator 206 may analyze campaign profile 122 to identify thetemplate(s) 114 associated with the campaign. For example, itemgenerator 206 may identify the ID of the template(s) 114 associated withthe campaign from the campaign profile 122. Item generator 206 mayretrieve the template(s) and/or template profiles 122 matching these IDsand generates one more security items 112 and/or training items 124based thereon. For example, item generator 206 may analyze the profile122 for campaign CP_1 and determine that this campaign is associatedwith templates Temp_1 to Temp_N.

The message generator 206 may analyze a number of templates 114 and/ortemplate profiles 122, and identify the template(s) 114 corresponding tothe template IDs obtained from the campaign profile 122. Item generator206 may then loads each of the templates 114. When template profiles 122include all of the template data including field data, structure data,formatting data, content data, and/or the like, item generator 206 maygenerate a template 114 from the template profile 122.

The item generator 206 may use a template 114 to generate an initialsecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 for each of the target usersof the campaign. For example, FIG. 11 illustrates an example securityitem 112 generated to simulate a phishing message. Although notillustrated, other security items 112 and/or training items 124 may begenerated and/or transmitted to target users. These additional securityitems 112 and/or training items 124 may include, for example, dataassociated with introductory security information, phishing information,social media information, remote and/or travel-related information,password information, social engineering information, web safetyinformation, data protection information, email security information,computer security information, physical security information, simulationdata associated with any of the preceding information, and/or anycombination of the above.

In the example of FIG. 11, which illustrates a phishing-related securityitem, the security item 112 may include a message comprising asecurity-based threat. Similar to the template 514, the generatedsecurity item 112 may include a “Subject” field 1102, a “From” field1104, a “Sent” field 1106, a “To” field 1108, an “Attachments” field1109, and a message body section 1110. The “Subject” field 1102 mayinclude the subject content 1114 provided by the template 514. The“From” field 1104 may include the name 1116 of the sender provided bythe template 514. The “Sent” field 1106 may include the time and date1118 of when the message was sent. The “To” field 1108 may include thename 1120 and email address 1122 of the recipient obtained from thecorresponding employee profile 118.

The message body 1110 may include message content 1124 and a hyperlink1126 provided by the template 514. In addition, the information fields528, 530 within the template 514 may be dynamically populated by theitem generator 206 to include the first name 1128 and the email address1130 of a recipient. The item generator 206 may obtain a recipient'sname and email address from the user profile 118 (or any other profilecomprising this information) associated with the recipient. The securityitem 112 may also include an attached file 1132 corresponding to thefile ID identified in the “Attachments” field 510 of the template 514.In this example, the generated security item 112 may include a mediumsophistication level, which corresponds to the sophistication level ofits template 514.

Item generator 206 may generate the same security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 (with the exception of any personalized content) foreach of the users identified in a campaign. In addition, differentsecurity items 112 and/or training items 124 may be generated fordifferent users associated with user systems 104, 106. Accordingly, itemgenerator 206 may analyze the rules associated with the campaign profile122 (or stored at some other location) and determine if a givenrecipient is to receive a different security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124. For example, a sophistication level and/or content of securityitems 112 and/or training items 124 may vary across recipient users ofusers systems 104, 106 based recipient's role, past performance history,a risk score, and/or the like.

An initial campaign may determine an initial risk score for a user,group of users, and/or organization. Additionally, an initial campaignand/or calculated risk score may determine subsequent security items 112and/or training items 124 that may be generated and/or transmitted tousers at user systems 104, 106.

For example, initial security item 112 and/or training item 124 may begenerated from the initial template. Item generator 206 may generate asecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 for the recipient thatsatisfies the parameters/conditions in the rules. For example, one rulemay indicate that a recipient with a given role (e.g., CEO) mayinitially receive a security item 112 and/or training item 124 askingthe recipient to provide network password information at a givensophistication level. Item generator 206 may then analyze the templatesselected for the campaign and identify a template that satisfies therule. In another embodiment, the item adjuster 218 may dynamically andautomatically adjust a template to include and/or remove trustindicators and/or content to satisfy the rule (e.g., sophisticationlevel and/or content requirements). In the example of passwordgeneration, a sophistication level and/or content may be altered toinclude more or less rules associated with password generation, more orless guidance associated with password generation and/or the like.

Once a security item 112 and/or training item 124 is generated, the itempresenter 208 may transmit the security item 112 and/or training item124 to the target user at user system 104, 106. Security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 may be presented to a user by transmitting thesecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 to the users' recipient'saddress specified in the security item 112 and/or training item 124(e.g., an email address, telephone number, messager username, IPaddress, and/or the like).

A user may receive the security item 112 and/or training item 124 via aninput/output module on user system 104, 106. Security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 may be transmitted to the user via applications, aweb page, and/or the like. A user profile 118 of the user and/or one ormore addition profiles may be updated by the risk assessment manager 110to indicate that a user was presented with a security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 of a given sophistication level. A user profile 118may be updated to identify the content of the security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 (e.g., what time of security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 was transmitted to the user).

A security item 112 and/or training item 124 count may be stored withinthe user profile 118 and updated and optional metadata associated witheach security item 112 and/or training item 124 (e.g., sophisticationlevel, security threat types, etc.) may be stored within the profile118. The security item 112 and/or training item 124 count and securityitem 112 and/or training item 124 metadata may be stored withinstatistics data of the user profile 118. Information may also be storedwithin other profiles such as the campaign and template profiles aswell.

Risk assessment agent 142 at the user's system 104, 106 may detect whena user receives and/or is presented with a security item 112 and/ortraining item 124. A security item 112 and/or training item 124 mayinclude an embedded identifier that allows the agent 142 to distinguishand/or identify security items 112 and/or training items 124.

The agent 142 also may monitor the user's interaction and/or feedbackassociated with the security item 112 and/or training item 124. Forexample, agent 142 may detect if and when a user interacts with,responds to, and/or reads a security item 112 and/or training item 124.For example, agent 142 may detect when a user selects a hyperlink withinsecurity item 112 and/or training item 124, provides an incorrect orcorrect answer to a question within the security item 112 and/ortraining item 124, generates a secure or unsecure username/password,etc. The agent 142 may determine that a user has interacted, respondedto, and/or read a security item 112 and/or training item 124 when theusers performs an action (e.g., clicks on a link, opens a message,responds to a message, enters data in a field, watches a video, listensto a lecture, and/or the like).

For example, security item 112 and/or training item 124 may includecontent such as (but not limited to) an N×N transparent pixel thatprompts the client 134 to ask the user if the user would like todownload an external/remote content. When a user selects the option todownload this content, the agent 142 may determine that security item112 and/or training item 124 has been opened. Other methods fordetermining when the user has interacted, responded to, and/or opened asecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 may be applicable as well.

In addition to opening a security item 112 and/or training item 124, theagent 142 may detect when the user, previews the security item 112and/or training item 124 (reads a message without opening it), deletesthe security item 112 and/or training item 124, fails to open thesecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 after a given amount of time,and/or the like.

In an example where the security item 112 and/or training item 124includes a message, once the user opens the message the agent 142 maymonitors if the user interacts with any of the items therein or attachedthereto. For example, the agent 142 may monitor when the user selects ahyperlink within the message, enters information into fields on asimulated webpage that is brought up by selecting the hyperlink, opens afile attached to the message, and/or the like. When a security item 112and/or training item 124 includes a questionnaire, challenge/responseitem, an interactive application, and/or the like agent 142 may monitoruser interaction with the questionnaire, responses, interactiveapplication and/or the like. An interactive application may include, forexample, a webpage and/or browser executable code that request a user tointeract with various games and/or tasks (e.g., selecting items from alist, highlighting items, playing a game and/or the like).

Examples of security items and training items that the system may selectand help deliver include:

(i) sending a mock malicious message (e.g., SMS, MMS, instant message,in-channel message delivered by a service such as a social networkingsite, or a message delivered using some other messaging technology suchas WhatsApp) to a user (e.g., a mock malicious message with a mockmalicious URL or a mock malicious attachment, or a mock malicious phonenumber, or a mock request for sensitive information);

(ii) a mock social networking attack involving a mock malicious post orupdate such as a post or update containing a mock malicious URL (e.g., aURL for a mock malicious website that prompts the user to entersensitive information or exposes the user's device to mock malware)including a mock malicious URL that relies on one more levels ofredirection, mock malicious attachment (e.g., a mock malicious picture,video, audio clip), a mock malicious phone number, a mock maliciousbarcode (e.g., QR Code®) that when read by a barcode scanner causes thecomputing device to access or download mock malware, a mock maliciouspost enticing a user to perform an activity that puts him, others, hisorganization or his country at risk;

(iii) giving a mock social engineering call to a user (including using acomputer system to automatically place the phone call and interact withthe user through an automated menu or some automated dialoguefunctionality such as Interactive Voice Recognition technology,multi-modal interactive technology, voice over Internet protocol (VOIP)technology, automated speech recognition technology, some otherautomated dialogue functionality) with the call requesting the user toprovide sensitive information or to initiate a possibly sensitiveactivity (e.g. granting someone access to a resource, resettingsomeone's password, telling or requesting a colleague to do something,sending information to a colleague, installing malicious code, enteringerroneous information in a computer system, evacuating a building inresponse to a mock malicious alert), instructing a colleague to ignore awarning, enticing someone to spread false information, or generallyengaging in any other activity that could compromise the user's securityor reputation, that of his organization or his country or that of someother people, organization or country;

(iv) leaving a mock malicious memory device such as a universal serialbus (USB) storage device on which mock malware at one or more locationswhere a user may be lured to pick up the device and plug it into acomputer, directly giving or sending a USB or other memory device onwhich mock malware is stored to users to plug into their computer,dropping at one or more locations (e.g., a company cafeteria, booth at atradeshow) some other portable memory device such as a DVD or an SD cardwith mock malware for users to possibly pick up and access from one oftheir computers, directly giving or sending some other portable memorydevice such as a DVD or an SD card with mock malware to users to accessfrom one of their computers;

(v) placing a mock malicious barcode (such as a quick-response QR Code®or other matrix code) or some other type of bar code on an object suchas a poster or wall so that the code, when scanned by a mobileelectronic device or some other computer device, causes the device to bedirected to a mock phishing website, initiate the download of mockmalware (e.g., a mock malicious software app) on that computer device,connect the device to a mock malicious service, or contributes to thedelivery of a mock attack on another user;

(vi) placing mock malicious short range tags such as mock malicious nearfield communication (NFC) or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags,or equivalent tags on objects with the tags when read by a mobile deviceor some other computer device, causing the device to be directed to amock phishing website or a mock malicious service, initiating thedownload of mock malware on the device, demonstrating to users how suchtags could expose them to other risks, or contributing to the deliveryof a mock attack on another user;

(vii) exposing a user to a piece of mock malware such as placing a mockmalicious app in an app store (possibly a mock app store or a mockmalicious app store link), or file transfer site (or mock transfer site)and providing the user with a link or other means to entice the user toobtain and download the mock malware (such as by displaying a messageinviting the user to obtain what is described as antivirus software, butwhat instead is fake malicious software, or enticing the user todownload a new game app), or distributing mock malware through variousmeans such as using mock malicious memory devices or using mockmalicious bar codes or mock malicious URLs as already described above;

(viii) deploying a mock rogue wireless service such as a mock rogueWi-Fi access point or mock malicious short range communication service(e.g. mock Bluetooth pairing) to lure users to connect via these mockrogue access points or communication services (e.g. by deploying suchmock rogue services on company premises, near a coffee shop whereemployees of a company often go, or in an airport lounge;

(ix) deploying some other mock rogue, compromised or malfunctioningdevice or service such as a mock compromised keypad or some other mockrogue, compromised or malfunctioning authentication or access grantingdevice or service (e.g. mock malfunctioning electronic lock) that awell-trained user should be able to spot and possibly report; mockunapproved hardware that could be used by an attacker to obtainsensitive information or sensitive access (e.g. mock spying camera ormicrophone that a well-trained user should be able to spot and report),mock rogue jamming equipment that a well-trained user should report,mock malfunctioning access device, etc.;

(x) using some other mock attack to entice (i.e., lure) users to do anyof the following: access mock malicious websites; install mock malwareon one of their computer devices; open mock malicious messageattachments; disclose sensitive or dangerous information in a mockcontext; engage in a mock context in some other activity that has thepotential of putting them, their organization, their country, others,other organizations or other countries at risk or of damaging theirreputation; fail to engage in a mock context in some activity that, ifnot implemented, could have similarly deleterious consequences.

(xi) repurposing an actual attack by making it harmless (e.g. replacinga poster that includes a malicious QR Code with an identical poster thatincludes a mock malicious QR Code, replacing a malicious attachment inan SMS message with a mock malicious attachment) and using the resultingattack as a mock attack to estimate the user's vulnerability to similarattacks.

User action monitor 214 of the risk assessment manager 110 may monitorthe user's actions with respect to the security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124. For example, when a user interacts with the security item 112and/or training item 124 as described herein, a script embedded withinsecurity item 112 and/or training item 124 may generate code that isthen transmitted from user system 104, 106 to the user action monitor214 identifying this action.

One or more sensors may detect one or more aspects of a user's behavioror activities (user actions) as the user interacts with an interactionitem. The sensors may be part of the end user electronic device, and/orthe system may rely on external sensors. The system may analyze datathat it directly or indirectly received from the end user device sensorsand/or external sensors. For example, the sensors may include hardware,software, electromechanical devices, bio-sensory devices, and sources ofinformation provided by third parties. The sensors may be used to senseone or more aspects of a user's activities or behavior, whether in thecontext of routine activities or in response to artificially createdsituations. The sensors may detect various actions of a user in responseto a training item or security item, such as whether the user isdownloading an attachment or installing an application, the user'sbrowsing history, and other data.

Examples of behavior or activity sensors in the cybersecurity assessmentand training domain include sensors that detect attachments in emailssent or received by a user, sensors to determine whether one or moreusers access different services over secure connections, sensors toidentify the number, type and/or identity of applications installed on auser's mobile phone, sensors to track the physical locations that a uservisits, sensors to keep track of the URLs that a user visits. Somesensors can also include, for instance, sensors to detect USB key usage,record browsing history, identify Bluetooth headset use, sensors thatdetect the number or types of emails received, sensors that inspect thecontent of emails, and sensors that track the physical location ofusers. Sensors can also include Mobile Device Management (MDM) clientsand MDM infrastructure or Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) functionality,as well as data obtained from an MDM system, DLP system, firewallsystem, email filtering system, browsers, network proxies, or othertypes infrastructure components that can be used to monitor useractivities and behaviors as well as other relevant contextual attributes(e.g. types of websites a user visits, emails they receive, phonenumbers they call or receive calls from).

The sensors can be embedded in or interface with smart phones, laptopcomputers, desktops, tablets, e-readers, body parts, or any otherdevices, appliances or elements of the user's local or globalenvironment (e.g. smart home, smart car, smart office, or other mobileor pervasive computing device or appliance, including medical devices,surveillance cameras, and other environmental sensors). A sensor mayinclude a data storage device or processor, for example inmicroprocessor form, and can obtain data provided by the user, by peopleother than the user, by organizations, or by entities includingcolleagues, friends, family members, strangers, doctors. A sensor mayalternately or in addition obtain data provided by systems (includingdata aggregated and synthesized from multiple sources, including aerialsensors, space-based sensors, implanted devices, and medical devices).For example, a sensor may sense calendar information, status updates onsocial networks, and credit card transactions and can sense informationor actions obtained through video surveillance. Some sensors may alsosense a combination of data. Some sensors may also sense that the userhas fallen for a mock attack, including any of the mock attacksidentified above.

Additional examples of sensors are described in FIG. 23. Sensors may bepart of a risk assessment agent 142, or they may communicate with a riskassessment agent 142, as described in this document.

Other examples of sensed data may include, for example:

-   -   i. filenames or other data relating to content of a user's saved        file directory, such as a directory of saved email attachments        or a directory of files downloaded using a browser client;    -   ii. data relating to the configuration of the user's browser,        operating system, or some other software running on a device        with which the user interacts;    -   iii. data indicating whether the user is using or has used a        computing device on a Wi-Fi network, and whether or not the        Wi-Fi network is a secured network or known, trusted network;    -   iv. location data obtained through one or more technologies        (e.g., Wi-Fi location tracking, cell phone triangulation,        Bluetooth beacons, RFID tags, credit card transactions, GPS,        smartphone APIs, browser APIs, IP address) indicative of places        where the user goes, or where the user has operated or attempted        to access a particular computing system;    -   v. a phishing sensor, such as a monitor that receives data        indicating whether (and optionally how frequently) a user visits        or attempts to visit one or more blacklisted web sites, or a        sensor looking at the number of emails received by a user and        flagged as phishing emails by an email filter;    -   vi. a password vulnerability sensor, such as a monitor that        receives data indicating how often a user changes his password        or a sensor that estimates the strength of passwords selected by        a user (e.g., the password must contain a minimum number of        characters or a certain type or combinations of types of        characters, such as at least one capital letter, at least one        lowercase letter, and at least one number, or have some minimum        length);    -   vii. an external memory device monitor that receives data from a        computer indicating when an external memory device such as a USB        memory device has been connected to a communication port of an        electronic device operated by a user, potentially allowing for        the transfer of malicious files on that electronic device;    -   viii a social networking sensor, such as a monitor that receives        data from a browser or browser plug-in estimating the time that        the user has spent accessing one or more known social networking        websites; or    -   ix. a social networking sensor that crawls known social        networking sites looking to estimate the level and type of        social networking activities in which users engage (e.g., data        files, photos, videos, or comments posted by a user, location        information leaked by a user, photos where a user is tagged,        number of friends a user has). This may include estimating the        amount of such data or activities, their frequency, their level        of sensitivity, etc.

When the agent 142 detects that the user has interacted, responded to,and/or opened security item 112 and/or training item 124 the agent 142may notify the risk assessment manager 110 of this action. In addition,the agent 142 may collect technical information 138 associated with theuser's system and/or user properties 136 (e.g., existing usernames,passwords, security questions, answers, and/or the like) and transmitthis information to the risk assessment manager 110. The agent 142 maycollect the user property data 136 and/or technical information 138prior to detecting that the user has interacted with, responded to,and/or opened security item 112 and/or training item 124.

The system may detect an interaction event comprising an action of theuser (or lack thereof) in response to the interaction item. Byextension, the sensed user response should also be understood to includesensing attributes of activities in which the user engages that exposehim or her to particular risks. Examples include sensing that:

-   -   a) a user is discussing sensitive matters on a smartphone in a        public space;    -   b) a user is entering password information where he or she is at        particularly high risk of a shoulder surfing attack;    -   c) a user has requested a blacklisted website;    -   d) a user has opened an email attachment; or    -   e) a user has posted to a social network.

A sensor may directly detect the interaction event, or the system mayreceive data that is collected by a sensor. The data may correspond touser activities or behaviors or, more generally, other contextualattributes relevant to the selection of appropriate traininginterventions in response to a given mock attack or at a later stage.Such contextual attributes may include any relevant sensory data as wellas information obtained from other relevant sources of information, suchas browser history, credit card records, surveillance cameras,electronic doors, employment records, information collected about aperson with which the user has interacted, and social networkinginformation. They can also include time data, duration data, and anyother relevant information about the user's interaction with a mockattack situation (e.g., sensitive information provided by the user,voice recording of the user's interaction). The interaction signaturecan be produced in various ways including using cryptographic hashes ofone or more attributes of an interaction event. In some embodiments,sources of sensory data may forward sensed information to one or moreother participant computers. In one instance, a software or executableprogram will run on a participant computer or device and locally processsensed data to detect one or more relevant interaction events prior toforwarding the detected information (e.g. in the form of interactionsignatures) to a storage system. The executable program may includelogic to locally deliver just-in-time training interventions in responseto particular interaction events. In some embodiments, user data can beforwarded directly to the analysis host computer or computersresponsible for hosting the policy manager. The storage system may beresponsible, among other things, for storing sensed user data. Thesystem may detect an action of the user 120 by filtering sensed data,aggregation of sensed data, pre-processing of the sensed data, analysisof the sensed data, and/or receipt of one or more event interactionsignatures.

Examples of the technical information 138 collected by the agent 142 mayinclude, but are not limited to, the type of system (e.g., desktop,notebook, tablet, smartphone, wearable computing device, etc.) utilizedby the user; the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the system; thelocation of the system; the network (e.g., work, home, hotel, etc.) usedto access the security item 112 and/or training item 124; network type(wired, wireless, VPN, etc.) the messaging client used by the user; webbrowser utilized to access the security item 112 and/or training item124; operating system; anti-virus software, firewall software, internetsecurity software; the number and severity of technical vulnerabilitiespresent on the device; the level of difficulty to exploit thevulnerabilities; the source Internet Protocol (IP) address of thedevice; exposure to less-trusted networks; exposure to less-trusted userpopulations; sensitivity of the data the device stores or transacts;compensating controls; and/or the like.

A vulnerability with respect to an application, such as a web browser,may be determined based on fingerprinting the application versions andcomparing them against current versions. Any application version that isless than a current version may be deemed a vulnerability and maynegatively impact a risk score. Additionally, any application versionthat changes in a manner deemed to be vulnerable may trigger an alert tosecurity system 102, which may then recalculate a risk score for anindividual, group of individuals, and/or organization. The moreapplications deemed to be vulnerable, the more vulnerable the platformand the worse the risk score. Conversely, vulnerability may be appliedto specific users. If a user consistently acts with a security item 112and/or training item 124 in a negative way, the user's risk score mayincrease. If a user consistently acts with a security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 in a positive way, the user's risk score may decrease.

Agent 142 may transmit a communication to the risk assessment manager110 that includes an identifier of the user, an optional identifier ofthe security item 112 and/or training item 124 and/or its template, theinteraction(s) or an identifier of the interaction(s) performed, thecollected technical information, the collected user property informationand/or the like. The risk assessment manager 110 may receive thiscommunication from the agent 142 and update a user profile 118associated with the user, a template profile 116 associated with thetemplate 114 (if any) from which the security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 was created, and/or a campaign profile 122 associated with thecampaign (if any) for which the security item 112 and/or training item124 was generated.

For example, the risk assessment manager 110 utilizes the useridentifier within the communication from the agent 142 to identify theuser profile 118 associated with the user. The risk assessment manager110 then updates the information within the profile 118 to include theidentifier of the security item 112 and/or training item 124 ortemplate, the action(s) taken by the user with respect to the securityitem 112 and/or training item 124, the technical information associatedwith the user's system, and/or the user property information. One ormore of these information sets may also be stored within thecorresponding template and campaign profiles 116, 122 along with theuser identifier, campaign identifiers, and template identifier whereappropriate.

As discussed herein, if the user at user system 104, 106 performs apredefined interaction such as, viewing a video, incorrectly answering aquestion in a questionnaire, generating a username or password with asecurity level below a given threshold, selecting a hyperlink within asimulated phishing message, opens a file attached a simulated message,selects a hyperlink within a file attached to a simulated message,interacts with an application, responds to a challenge question, and/orperforms some other action indicating a security risk, the user may bepresented with one or more training items 124.

A training item 124 may include set of information displayed to a userwhen the user interacts with a security item 112 and/or training item124 that in a predefined way such as by performing an action, answeringa question, not viewing a training video, and/or the like, the user hasexemplified a security risk to an organization's computing network. Thisset of information may notify the user of the interaction thatexemplified a security risk (e.g., a question in the questionnaireanswered incorrectly) and provide a proper interaction, response, and/ordescription to the user. Providing proper interactions, responses,and/or descriptions, which may include an audio/video file, may teach auser how to engage in secure behavior. A training item 124 may bepresented to the user via a web page, an application, etc. and comprisetext, audio, video, and/or a combination thereof.

If a security item 112 and/or training item 124 includes a message witha security-based threat, such as a hyperlink within the message and/orwithin a file attached to the security item 112 and/or training item124, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the hyperlinkmay be for a webpage comprising the training item 124. A webpage may beautomatically displayed to the recipient when the recipient selects thehyperlink. A webpage may include text, audio, and/or video. A hyperlinkmay also point to a video file and/or audio file stored locally on therecipient's machine 104, 106, on a remote information processing system,and/or within the message 112 itself.

A hyperlink within a message may point to a webpage that includes thesecurity-based threat. For example, the hyperlink may point to a webpageasking the user to enter personal and/or confidential information. Oncethe user enters the request information and selects an option to submitthe information, a training item 124 may be displayed to the user. Inembodiments where a security-based threat is a file attached to message,a training item 124 (e.g., webpage, video file, and/or audio file) maybe displayed to the recipient upon opening the file. A file may includea script to automatically present the training item 124. Agent 142 maypresent the training item 124 to the user when the user performs apredefined action with respect to a security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 112.

If a security item 112 and/or training item 124 includes otherinteractive features (responding to questions, interacting with anapplication, challenge/response features, and/or the like), interactingwith these features may trigger retrieval of a training item 124 andpresentation of the training item 124 to a user to educate the user onproper interactions. Training items 124 may not be required to beassociated with a template. For example, where a template includes atraining item 124 such as a training video and quiz, a subsequenttraining item 124 may not be attached to the initial training item 124.As another example, where a user of security system 102 desires toprovide training items 124 separate from security items 112, trainingitems 124 may be sent at a later date and/or time after improperinteraction with a security item 112. Training items 124 may beassociated with individual security items 112 and/or training items 124,groups or types of security items 112 and/or training items 124, and/orthe like.

FIG. 12 illustrates a training item 124 for the message of FIG. 11. Inthis non-limiting example, a training item 124 may be a webpage. After auser has been presented with a given number of training item 124 formessages of a given sophistication level (or of a given security-threattype), the risk assessment manager 110 may consider these users as“trained” for that sophistication level and/or security threat.Alternatively, the risk assessment manager 110 may consider a user as“trained” after the user has properly detected the security threats in agiven number of security items 112 and/or training items 124. Otherfactors may also apply for determining when a recipient is proficientfor a given sophistication level or security threat. Sophisticationlevels may be optional and a training item 124 may not be associatedwith a sophistication level.

In one embodiment, once an initial set of security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 have been transmitted to users and user systems 104,106, the above processes may be repeated for any additional sets ofsecurity items 112 and/or training items 124 that are to be generatedfor a campaign. A campaign may be configured to send out security items112 and/or training items 124 based on a plurality of templatesaccording to one or more scheduling and/or delivery parameters/rules.For example, a campaign may indicate that five security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 with a low sophistication level are to be sent to theusers within the first two weeks of the campaign, followed by fivesecurity items 112 and/or training items 124 with a mediumsophistication level within the next two weeks of the campaign, followedby five security items 112 and/or training items 124 with a highsophistication level within the next two weeks of the campaign.

Item adjuster 218 may dynamically determine the type of security item112 and/or training item 124 to be sent to the recipients based on aperformance history with respect to previous security items 112 and/ortraining items 124 in the campaign and/or previous campaigns; a riskscore; a role within the company; a company group; and/or the like. Forexample, if a user has successfully interacted with previous securityitems 112 and/or training items 124 at a given sophistication level,item adjuster 218 may dynamically update the campaign such that thisuser starts to receive security items 112 and/or training items 124 of ahigher sophistication level (e.g., more difficult security-basedquestions, more legitimate looking simulated phishing messages, etc.).

The risk assessment manager 110 may end a campaign once a condition(e.g., specific date/time, number of messages, etc.) specific in thescheduling parameters has been met. Once a campaign has ended (or at anypoint in time during a campaign) a user risk calculator 212 maydetermine a risk score for a user associated with user system 104, 106.A risk score may be calculated after each security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 is presented to the user and/or after a given numberof security items 112 and/or training items 124 have been presented tothe user.

A risk score may be derived from historic behavioral user traits (i.e.,the security item 112 and/or training item 124 interaction data),current and/or history user property data 136, and/or current and/orhistoric technical information 138 collected for the user during one ormore campaigns. Using a risk score, a client subscribing to the riskassessment manager 110 may make better risk management decisions basedon a level of risk each user exposes the organization to. Clients mayapply differing levels of security rigor to a user within anorganization. For example, a high-risk user may be denied Internetaccess, be placed in a restrictive firewall policy group, be deniedremote access rights, restricted from handling sensitive information,and/or the like. Conversely, users that pose less risk (illustrated by agood risk score) may be permitted to increased network and system accessbased on the calculated risk score.

In one embodiment, the user risk calculator 212 may analyze the securityitem interaction data 132, the training item interaction data 134, userproperty data 136, and/or the technical information 138 of a given userwith respect to a set of risk scoring metrics 126. FIGS. 13 and 14illustrate various examples risk scoring metrics. For example, FIG. 13shows examples of risk scoring metrics based on technical informationand FIG. 14 shows examples of risk scoring metrics based on usersecurity item interaction data 132 and user training item interactiondata 134. A user risk score may be calculated at various granularitiessuch as for each security item 112 and/or training item 124, a campaignin progress, for the most recent campaign completed, for all completedcampaigns, and/or the like.

The user risk calculator 212 may compare the security item interactiondata 132, the training item interaction data 134, user property data136, and/or user technical information 138 collected for a given userwith the set of risk scoring metrics 126 to calculate a risk score forthe user. Collected data may be from a campaign currently in progress,the most recent campaign completed, for all completed campaigns, and/orthe like. For example, if the user risk calculator 212 may determinethat a user has a vulnerable plug-in installed on user system 104, 106during a campaign. As another example, a user risk calculator 212 maydetermine, based on feedback from a campaign, that a user has browsersoftware running with outdated versions. A comparison may be done todetermine if the versions of the software contain vulnerabilities and ifso, this may increase a risk score. As another example, a user riskcalculator 212 may determine, based on feedback from a campaign, that auser consistently uses a mobile device and public WiFi networks.Accordingly, the risk score calculator 212 may determine that thisfeedback increases a risk score. As another example, risk calculator 212may determine based on feedback from a campaign, that a user associatedwith user system 104, 106 has a large social media imprint (e.g.,accesses social media platforms with a particular frequency).Accordingly, the risk calculator 212 may determine that this feedbackincreases a risk score. As another example, risk calculator 212 maydetermine based on feedback from a campaign that a user associated withuser system 104, 106 is operating on a known malicious IP address and/ornetwork and/or a country and/or region of origin. Accordingly, the riskcalculator 212 may determine that this feedback increases a risk score.Accordingly, in these examples, a risk score of the recipient user mayaltered, such as those according to the metrics in FIG. 13.

As another example, if a user risk calculator 212 determines that theuser opened a security-threat-based message in the campaign; clicked ona security-based threat in the campaign; and entered personal and/orconfidential information into a simulated security-base threat, the riskscore of the recipient user may altered by seventeen (17) according tothe metrics in FIG. 14. If the user risk calculator 212 determines thatthe user completed three (3) training sessions during a campaign basedon the user training item data 134, a risk score of the user is alteredby 5%.

A risk score of a user may be determined on a per-item-basis and amultiplier may be applied to the risk score of a user based on thesophistication level of the item. For example, if the security item 112and/or training item 124 included a low sophistication level a highermultiple is applied to the risk score than if the message comprises ahigh sophistication level. This may be because security threats within amessage with a low sophistication level are easier to detect thansecurity threats within a message with a higher sophistication level.Therefore, if a recipient interacts with a security threat within amessage with a low sophistication level this user may be a greater riskto the client.

Risk scores may be increased by a multiplier depending on attributesassociated with a security item 112 and/or training item 124. Forexample, if a user interacts with a security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 comprising a low sophistication level the points associatedwith the metrics shown in FIG. 14 may be multiplied by a factor of 3.Similarly, if the recipient user is of high criticality (e.g., isexposed to highly sensitive or confidential information) to the companythe points associated with the metrics shown in FIG. 14 may multipliedby a factor of 3.

Once a risk score has been determined for a given recipient user, a riskscore may be saved and/or stored within the user profile 118 associatedwith the recipient user. Risk scores may be stored in other profiles aswell. If a previous risk score is already associated with the user, thisprevious score may be updated with the new score. Alternatively, theuser risk calculator 212 may store a new score in addition to anypreviously calculated scores for the user to maintain a history of riskscores for the user.

The calculated risk scores may be used to perform various actions. Forexample, the risk assessment manager 110 may use a calculated riskscores to influence, guide, and/or determine a frequency and/orsophistication level of future security items 112 and/or training items124. For example, risk assessment manager 110 may increase the frequencyof presenting security item 112 and/or training item 124 to a user whohas a higher risk score than for a user with a lower risk score. Inanother example, the security items 112 and/or training items 124 with ahigher sophistication level may be presented to a user with a lower riskscore than to a user with a higher risk score. In another example, amore in-depth and detailed training item 124 or additional trainingitems 124 may be presented to a user with a higher risk score than to auser with a lower risk score. As the user completes additional trainingsessions a risk score may be reduced.

In another embodiment, user risk scores may be used within technicalsecurity controls to determine how a user is treated at the technicallevel (e.g. firewall, proxy, or email restrictions, more detailedlogging over user's activities, etc.). Users with higher risk scores mayhave more restrictions placed on them within the computing network thanusers with lower risk scores. As a user positively interacts (performsactions that do not compromise the security of the computing network)with security items 112 and/or training items 124, a risk score mayreduce and less network restrictions may be imposed on the user.

The system may include a dataset of possible threat scenarios for whicha context-aware cybersecurity training system may determine that a useris at risk. The system may include a dataset of associations betweenthreat scenarios and associated actions that may indicate that a personwho performs the actions may be at risk for the threat scenario. Theseassociations may provide a basis for a training needs model (See FIG.24). For example, threat scenarios and associated actions may include:(i) downloading malware from a malicious USB memory device; (ii)downloading a malicious app one one's smartphone; (iii) connecting to arogue Wi-Fi access point; (iv) falling for a malicious SMS message byproviding sensitive information in response to such a message or byperforming, in response to the SMS message, some other action that putsone or one's organization at risk (e.g., changing a password asinstructed in a malicious SMS message); and/or (iv) falling prey to abluesnarfing attack resulting in the theft of sensitive information.

Optionally, the system may receive sensed data relating to the useractions and/or behavior, and it may apply rules to determine whether theuser is at risk for the associated threat scenario. These rules mayinclude analysis of the action or behavior itself (such as the contentof information posted to a social network) to determine whether theaction satisfies a threat criterion such as any content that identifiesan employee by name, a social security number, a corporate name, deviceID or other prohibited content). Sometimes, to determine whether a useris at risk or contributes to susceptibility to one or more threatscenarios, the policy manager may require that a threshold of one ormore indicative user actions be sensed, or that a particular user actionbe repeated a threshold number of times, possibly over a given period oftime. For instance, assessment of the risk associated with a userfalling for a malicious SMS threat scenario can benefit from monitoringactivities that include how often a user replies to mock malicious SMSmessages. The logic used by the policy manager to drive this analysis(whether automatically or in the context of mixed initiative interactionscenarios) may rely on one or more rules and thresholds or some morecomplex logic. It may be manually entered by an analyst or systemadministrator, may be derived using statistical analysis and/or datamining techniques, may be obtained through benchmarking activitiesinvolving one or more organizations, or any combination of the above.

Also, the system may receive sensed action data for multiple users andstore that data in correlation with relevant attributes of the data,such as identifying information for the multiple users (e.g., uniquedevice IDs for different users), a date of the action or actions takenby the users, in a data set such as a user profile, user behavior dataset, or historical user training data set, where the data may beorganized by users.

An embodiment of a partial training needs model based on simplethreshold levels is illustrated in FIG. 24. The model may associatevarious threat scenarios 2020 with various user actions 2030 that may bedetected. When the system determines that a user action 2030 has beentaken at least a threshold number of times 3010 in response to thethreat scenario, the model will identify one or more training needs 3020that should be provided to the user, optionally with priorities for thetraining needs. For instance, a user who replies to a mock malicious SMSmessage from his smartphone is identified as being at a high risk offalling for such an attack. The training needs model associated withthis particular threat scenario based on this particular combination ofcontextual attributes (in this case simply the fact that the userreplied to an SMS message from an unknown sender) indicates that theuser is in a high need for being trained in the area of messaging andsmart phone security, the identified training needs 3020 associated withthis particular threat scenario as identified for this particular userin this particular context.

Elements of an embodiment of a slightly more complex training needsmodel 4000 including data based on one or more risk models isillustrated in FIG. 25. In this embodiment, the training risk modelincludes an estimate 4020 of the susceptibility of a given user to fallvictim to a given threat scenario 2020 over different periods of time.The susceptibility estimates 4020 may vary based on the different sensedactivities 4040 and/or by established frequency thresholds 4050 above orbelow which the user may be considered at risk or likely not at risk fora particular threat scenario 4060. Susceptibility estimates 4020 can beprobabilities, can be based on historical data, can be maintained bysecurity analysts, or can be estimated with the help of statisticalanalysis and/or data mining techniques. Susceptibility estimates can bemaintained for different time horizons such as 24-hour 4020 and 1-week4030 or other periods to help the policy manager 7 identify traininginterventions that may need to be more urgently delivered to the user,and training interventions that can be assigned to be taken within alonger time window (e.g. a few days, a week or even a month).Twenty-four-hour susceptibility and one-week susceptibility estimatesmay be related in different ways. For instance, some activities may beperformed 5 days per week, whereas others may be performed at differentfrequencies (e.g., 1 day per month or 7 days per week).

Elements of the quantitative training needs model 4000 illustrated inFIG. 25 combine estimates of susceptibility and estimates of theincident cost 4010 associated with different threat scenarios to computethe risk associated with each threat scenario and possibly individualtraining needs for a given user in a given context. The training needsmodel 4000 also may include one or more costs of providing the user withtraining in response to the user being at risk for a threat scenario.Using the model illustrated in FIG. 25, the system may implement apolicy manager that identifies a combination of one or more traininginterventions that will best mitigate the various risks to which a givenuser is susceptible at a particular point in time. That identificationmay include prioritizing identified training interventions, includingdifferentiating between interventions that should be delivered rightaway and interventions that can wait a bit longer before being exposedto the user.

Returning to FIG. 1, users of security system 102 may be able to viewvarious types of reports 128 for a client subscribing to the riskassessment manager 110. A user of security system 102 may access aninteractive environment 202 and selects a “Reports” widget 314 asindicated by the dashed box 1502 in FIG. 15. When a user selects thiswidget 314, a report area 1502 of the interactive environment 202 may bedisplayed within a portion of the interactive environment 202.

The report area 1504 may present the user with a list of campaigns 1504associated with one or more clients for which the user is authorized toview. The user also may be presented with one or more options forselecting which campaigns are displayed. For example, a filtering option1506 may allow a user of security system 102 to enter dates/times, whichresults in only the campaigns matching these criteria to be displayed(or filtered out). Another filtering option 1508 may allow a user toselect all of the campaigns that are currently pending, running, orcompleted to be displayed. A search option 1510 may also be displayed tothe user of security system 102, which may allow the user to enter oneor more search keywords. Only campaigns matching the entered keywordsmay displayed to the user. Reports may include, for example, a campaignstatus and/or statistics as described herein.

Data presenter 216 may populate a table 1512 with the campaignsassociated with a client or that match any of the search/filteringcriteria entered by a user. Table 1512 may display the title 1514 of thecampaign, the number of times 1516 each security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 in the campaign was sent; the number of times 1518each of each security item 112 and/or training item 124 included apredefined action (e.g., open a message, click on a link, watch a video,attempt a password generation, and/or the like), a number of detectedvulnerabilities 1520 (incorrect answers, incorrect interactions, and/orthe like); the number of times 1522 each message resulted in a securitycompromise (e.g., recipient entered personal and/or confidentialinformation, downloaded an insecure item, clicked on an insecure link,etc.); the number of multiple security compromises 1524 in each securityitem 112 and/or training item 124 for the same user (e.g., a user clickson multiple insecure links, a user downloads multiple insecure items, auser answers multiple questions incorrectly, a combination of differentsecurity compromising actions, and/or the like); the number of users1526 considered to have been “trained” during the campaign; the numberof times 1528 users reported an applicable security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 to an administrator, manager, etc.; the starting date1530 of the campaign the stopping date of the campaign; the status 1532of the campaign (e.g., pending, running, completed, etc.); the user 1534who created the campaign; and/or the like. Each campaign may havedifferent reporting items and the reporting items listed above. Forexample, a campaign may include additional items and/or may not includeall of the reporting items described above.

A user of security system 102 may be able to select one or more of thecampaigns displayed in the table 1512 to view 1536 their details, delete1538 the selected campaigns, clone 1540 the selected campaigns, compare1542 multiple selected campaigns, and/or the like. In one example,campaigns may be compared based on any metrics discussed above. Inaddition, the risk scores of all users within an organization may becombined to calculate an overall risk score of the company. Trendingdata may then be displayed across multiple campaigns, against industryvertical, and/or across all clients of the risk assessment manager 110.

When a user of security system 102 selects a campaign in the table 1512a campaign summary 1602 comprising one or more reports may be displayedin the interactive environment 202, as shown in FIG. 16. This campaignsummary 1602 may include information such as the campaign title 1604,template title 1605, user groups 1606, individual users 1608, startdate/time 1610, staggered delivery 1612, staggered delivery enddate/time (if applicable) 1614, campaign stop date 1616, and/or thelike.

The campaign summary 1602 may also provide campaign statistics to theuser in one or more different formats. For example, a campaign summary1602 may include a graph 1618 displaying the statistics displayed in thetable 1514 discussed above with respect to FIG. 15. It should be notedthat the campaign statistics are not limited to those shown in FIG. 16.

FIG. 17 shows another example of information that may be displayed tothe user of security system 102 as part of the campaign summary and/orreport. For example, FIG. 17 illustrates an overall risk score 1702 hasbeen calculated for the client when compared to other clientssubscribing to the risk assessment manager 110. A client's overall riskscore may be based on the risk score associated with its employees. Aclient's overall risk score may be calculated based on the metricsdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 15 (e.g.,open/interactions/vulnerable/trained/reported/compromised).

A weighted score may be applied to each interaction between a user and asecurity item 112 and/or training item 124; whether that user is arepeat offender; whether that user interacts with security items 112and/or training items 124 from different devices (laptop/tablet/phone)or multiple source IP addresses (work/home); whether that userinteracted with security items 112 and/or training items 124 fromvulnerable devices (out of date browser/plugins); whether that usercompletes training or reports applicable security items 112 and/ortraining items 124; and/or the like. Each interaction may be scored, andthe aggregated scores may be normalized. The normalized scores maycompared using a standard deviation calculation to arrive at a“ThreatScore”. This ThreatScore may be compared against industryvertical or overall, and may be used to see trending data forusers/groups/company (improving/declining) over time.

A client's risk score 1702 may be calculated in a real-time mannerand/or according to various scripts that execute on a minute, hourly,daily, monthly, and/or a yearly basis. FIG. 17 illustrates a user may bedisplayed a list/graph of the risk scores 1704 for each group/departmentof a client. A group's risk score 1702 may be calculated based on therisk scores of the individuals within that group. For example, all ofthe risk scores of the individuals within a group may be added and/orthe averaged to obtain the group's overall risk score 1702. A user ofsecurity system 102 may be able to select one or more of these groups tosee a performance and/or technical information with respect to a givencampaign, multiple campaigns, and/or all campaigns based on the group'semployees.

FIG. 17 illustrates a graph 1706 that may be displayed to show aclient's risk score over time. In this example, the user may be able toselect a temporal-based filter 1708 to see how a client's risk scorechanged on a minute, hourly, daily, weekly basis, and/or monthly basis.FIG. 17 also illustrates a time distribution 1710 of user interactionswith security items 112 and/or training items 124 during the selectedcampaign. In this example, a time distribution 1710 may display a year'sworth of data, each discrete division representing days and furthermonths. As an example, various graphical features may be used toillustrate campaign reporting. For example, the darker the shading mayindicate more interactions with security items 112 and/or training items124 on a particular day. This may be expanded to view a Month/Week/Dayview and allow a viewer to identify when users are more likely tointeract with a security item 112 and/or training item 124 such as earlymorning, late at night, at home vs. at office, etc.

FIG. 18 illustrates a list/graph 1802 of risk scores for each employees,which may identify a company's riskiest and least risky employees. Forexample, a user may be able to select one or more of employees to seeemployee performance, property, and/or technical data with respect to agiven campaign, multiple campaigns, and/or all campaigns participated inby the employee. FIG. 18 illustrates a graph 1804 that may be displayedto a user of security system 102 showing the client's risk score compareto other clients within a specific industry selected by the user. Graph1804 may present the statistics displayed in the table 1514 discussedabove for the client and for other clients in the selected industry. Auser of security system 102 may be able to select the industry via oneor more displayed options 1806 for which these metrics are displayed.

FIG. 19 illustrates another report that may be presented to the user inthe interactive environment 202. In the example shown in FIG. 19, a listof groups 1902 within the client may be displayed. This list mayidentify each group and the number of employees in each group. When auser selects a group from this list 1902, the data presenter 218 maydisplay the name 1904 of the group; the number of users 1906 in thegroup; and the risk score 1908 of the group. The data presenter 218 mayalso display a list 1910 of each employee within the group. Theemployee's communication address 1912, first name 1914, last name 1916,the date 1918 the employee was added to the campaign, and risk score1920 may also displayed to the user. The user may select one of theemployees to view the statistics of the user for one or more campaignsor for all of the campaigns as a whole.

Statistics also may calculated on the data collected during one or morecampaigns. For example, collected data may be analyzed and compared todata available from one or more data brokers. Accordingly, riskassessment manager 110 may predict if someone is more susceptible tosecurity-threat-based messages based on their demographic data. Forexample, if an analysis of the data shows that people who shop at givenstore and drive a red van are more likely to interact with a securityitem 112 and/or training item 124 in a compromising manner, riskassessment manager 110 may score a user as more risky before they aresent a security-threat-based message.

Operational Flow

FIG. 20 illustrates an operational flow diagram according to an exampleembodiment. Method 2000 beings at step 2002 and flows direct to step2004. If this is an introductory campaign (i.e., a client has noexisting risk scores for its employees), the risk assessment manager110, at step 2004, may obtain a campaign having a set of input datacomprising at least one of security item 112 and/or training item 124.If this is not an introductory campaign, risk assessment manager mayobtain security item interaction data 132, training item interactiondata 134, user property data 136, and/or technical information 138 foreach of a set of users in a plurality of users associated with an entityand/or a risk score associated with each user.

Based on the obtained data and/or other data required to send a securityitem 112 and/or training item 124 to a user system 104, 106 as describedherein, security system may transmit the security item 112 and/ortraining item 124 to one or more users at user systems 104, 106 (block2004).

At block 2006, risk assessment agent 142 and/or risk assessment manager110 may determine an interaction with a security item 112 and/or atraining item 124 as describe herein. This interaction may includesecurity item interaction data 132 and/or training item interaction data134, such as an action performed by each of the set of users withrespect to at least one transmitted security item 112 and/or trainingitem 124 presented to a user.

At block 2008, risk assessment manager 110 may receive, for each of theset of users, user property data and/or technical information associatedwith a user system utilized to perform the action as described herein.At block 2010, risk assessment manager may calculate a risk score of auser based on the security item interaction data, training iteminteraction data, user property data, and/or user technical propertydata. Risk assessment manager 110 may compares the set of input dataassociated with the security item 112 and/or training item 124 to aplurality of security risk scoring metrics. The plurality of securityrisk scoring metrics may include at various sets of metrics withdifferent a weight assignments to different user actions for anetwork-based security item 112 and/or training item 124, security iteminteraction data 132, training item interaction data 134, user propertydata 136, and/or technical information 138. A security risk score may becalculated for each of the set of users with respect to a computingnetwork based on comparison of the metrics and the received data. Asecurity risk score may quantify a security risk presented to thecomputing network by each of the set of users. The risk assessmentmanager 110 may also present a set of data comprising each of thesecurity risk scores that have been calculated via a user interface ofsecurity system 102. The control flow exits at block 2012.

FIG. 21 is an operational flow diagram illustrating an overall processfor managing an entity's risk exposure to security threats according toan example embodiment. The operational flow of FIG. 21 may begin atblock 2102. At block 2104, the risk assessment manager 110 may determinea sophistication score of a security item 112 and/or training item 124.A sophistication score of the security item 112 and/or training item 124may be based on the sophistication score of its template 114 used togenerate the security item 112 and/or training item 124.

At block 2106, the risk assessment manager 110 may transmit the securityitem 112 and/or training item 124 to at least one target user. At block2108, the risk assessment manager 110 and/or risk assessment agent 142may determine if the target user performs a predefined security iteminteraction and/or training item interaction that indicates a securityvulnerability of the user. If this determination is positive, the riskassessment manager 110, at block 2110, may assess the security of theuser's device 104 and/or user's properties and add the details of thisassessment to the user's technical details and/or profile details in aprofile 118. The risk assessment manager 110, at block 2112, may alsorecord the user's security item interaction data and/or training iteminteraction data and add this action/behavior to the user's behaviordetails in a profile 118.

At block 2114, the risk assessment manager 110 may record and/or track auser's risk score over time. The risk assessment manager 110, at block2116, may adjust a user's campaign, stored organizational data, securitycontrols, and/or the like based on a calculated risk score. In anotherexample, risk assessment manager 110 may not perform any adjustments butinstead may report recommended adjustments to a client. The riskassessment manager 110, at block 2118, may create a new campaign basedon a user's risk score. The control flow may return to block 2014 or mayend at this point. If the result of the determination at block 2108 isnegative, the risk assessment manager 110, at block 2120, may recordthat the user does not display vulnerable behavior and add thisbehavior/action to a user's behavior details in his/her profile 118. Thecontrol then flows to step 2118.

Information Processing System

FIG. 22 shows a block diagram illustrating an information processingsystem 2200 that may be utilized in various embodiments of the presentdisclosure such as the security system 102 and/or user system 104, 106shown in FIG. 1. The information processing system 2202 may implementone or more embodiments of the present disclosure. A processing systemmay be used as the information processing system 2202 in embodiments ofthe present disclosure. The components of the information processingsystem 2202 may include, but are not limited to, one or more processorsor processing units 2204, a system memory 2206, and a bus 2208 thatcouples various system components including the system memory 2206 tothe processor 2204.

The bus 2208 may represent one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Although not shown in FIG. 22, the main memory 2206 may include at leastthe risk assessment manager 110 and the security items messages 112,security item templates 114, template profiles 116, user/employeeprofiles 118, client profiles 120, campaign profiles 122, training items124, risk metrics 126, campaign reports 128, sophistication metrics 130,security item interaction data 131, training item interaction data 133,and user technical information 138 shown in FIG. 1. The risk assessmentmanager 110 may reside within the processor 2204, or be a separatehardware component. The system memory 2206 may also include computersystem readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as randomaccess memory (RAM) 2210 and/or cache memory 2212. The informationprocessing system 2202 may include other removable/non-removable,volatile/non-volatile computer system storage media. By way of exampleonly, a storage system 2214 may be provided for reading from and writingto a non-removable or removable, non-volatile media such as one or moresolid state disks and/or magnetic media. A magnetic disk drive forreading from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk(e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical disk drive for reading from orwriting to a removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM,DVD-ROM or other optical media may be provided. In such instances, eachmay be connected to the bus 2208 by one or more data media interfaces.The memory 2206 may include at least one program product having a set ofprogram modules configured to carry out the functions of an embodimentof the present disclosure.

Program/utility 2216, may have a set of program modules 2218, may bestored in memory 2206 by way of example, and not limitation, as well asan operating system, one or more application programs, other programmodules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one or moreapplication programs, other program modules, and program data or somecombination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 2218 may carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the present disclosure.

The information processing system 2202 may also communicate with one ormore external devices 2220 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, adisplay 2222, etc.; one or more devices that enable a user to interactwith the information processing system 2202; and/or any devices (e.g.,network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 2202 tocommunicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communicationmay occur via I/O interfaces 2224. The information processing system2202 may communicate with one or more networks such as a local areanetwork (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a publicnetwork (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter 2226. As depicted, thenetwork adapter 2226 may communicate with the other components ofinformation processing system 2202 via the bus 2208. Other hardwareand/or software components may also be used in conjunction with theinformation processing system 2202. Examples include, but are notlimited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units,external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archivalstorage systems.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be embodied as a system, method, or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may take theform of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit”, “module”, or “system.”

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium may be a tangible device that mayretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein may bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like,and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that may directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, may be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. Also, the phrase “such as” is not intended to limit thedisclosure to any particular item being referred to. It will be furtherunderstood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” when used inthis specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers,steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The description of the present disclosure has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for assessing security risk for anelectronic device user in a computing network, the method comprising: bya security system processor: generating an interaction item, wherein theinteraction item comprises a training item or a security item;transmitting the interaction item to an end user electronic device via anetwork; receiving feedback data from the end user electronic device,wherein: the feedback data includes sensed data relating to an action ofa user of the end user electronic device, wherein the action isresponsive to the interaction item, and the feedback data also includestechnical information associated with the end user electronic device,wherein the technical information includes at least one of thefollowing: a network address, a device make, a device model, a softwareversion, an operating system version, firewall data or a platform type;comparing the feedback data to a plurality of security risk scoringmetrics, where the plurality of security risk scoring metrics comprise:a set of metrics assigning a weight to the action of the user, and a setof metrics assigning a weight to a technical attribute defined for thetechnical information; based on the comparing, determining a securityrisk score, the security risk score quantifying a security riskpresented to the computing network by the user of the end userelectronic device; generating a subsequent interaction item based on thesecurity risk score, wherein: the subsequent interaction item includes asecurity item or a training item, and the subsequent interaction itemincludes a number of fields, each field having an associated value;assigning a weight to each field of the number of fields based on thefield's associated value; and determining a sophistication score for thesubsequent interaction item by totaling the weights associated with eachfield of the number of fields.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising, by a sensor of the end user electronic device, sensing theaction of the user.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the feedback dataassociated with the interaction item includes security item interactiondata received at the end user electronic device via an input/outputinterface.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback dataassociated with the interaction item includes training item interactiondata received at the end user electronic device via an input/outputinterface, and wherein the training item interaction data comprisescompletion data.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjustinga frequency of presenting subsequent interaction items to the user or asophistication score of subsequent interaction items presented to theuser of the end user electronic device based on the security risk score.6. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting, for the user ofthe end user electronic device, network security controls based on thesecurity risk score.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactionitem includes at least one of the following: a simulated security item,a simulated training item, an actual security item, or an actualtraining item.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein: receiving the feedbackdata associated with the subsequent interaction item also comprisesdetermining, using the security system processor, that the action of theuser matches a predefined action; and the method also comprises:presenting, at the end user electronic device, the subsequentinteraction item as at least one training item to the user, wherein theat least one training item comprises the subsequent interaction item andinstructs the user on how to interact with at least one security item;and recording, at a security system, based on the presenting, anindication that the end user electronic device interacted with the atleast one training item.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising,by the security system processor: identifying one or more additionalusers to form a group of users; and calculating a collective securityrisk score for the group of users based on the risk score calculated foreach user in the group.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising,by the security system processor: identifying an entity including aplurality of groups of users; and calculating a collective security riskscore for the entity based on the collective security risk scorescalculated for each group of users.
 11. A system for assessing securityrisk of user of a computing network, the system comprising: a securityserver having a risk assessment processor; a network connecting thesecurity server and an end user electronic device; a database thatstores security items, training items, technical information, and riskmetrics; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium thatstores programming instructions that are configured to cause the riskassessment processor to: generate an interaction item, wherein theinteraction item includes a training item or a security item; transmit,via the network, the interaction item to the end user electronic device;receive, via the network, feedback data associated with the interactionitem, wherein: the feedback data includes sensed data relating to anaction of a user of the end user electronic device, wherein the actionis responsive to the interaction item, and the feedback data alsoincludes technical information associated with the end user electronicdevice, wherein the technical information includes at least one of thefollowing: a network address, a device make, a device model, a softwareversion, an operating system version, firewall data or a platform type;compare the feedback data to a group of the risk metrics stored in thedatabase, where the group of the risk metrics stored in the databasecomprises: a set of metrics each assigning a weight to the action of theuser, and a set of metrics assigning a weight to a technical attributedefined for the technical information; calculate, based on comparing thefeedback data to the group of the risk metrics stored in the database, asecurity risk score for the user of the end user electronic device, thesecurity risk score quantifying a security risk presented to thecomputing network by the user of the end user electronic device;generate a subsequent interaction item based on the calculated securityrisk score, wherein: the subsequent interaction item includes a securityitem or a training item, and the subsequent interaction item includes anumber of fields, each field having an associated value; assign a weightto each field of the number of fields based on the field's associatedvalue; and determine a sophistication score for the subsequentinteraction item by totaling the weights associated with each field ofthe number of fields.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the feedbackdata associated with the interaction item includes security iteminteraction data received at the end user electronic device via aninput/output interface.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the feedbackdata associated with the interaction item includes training iteminteraction data received at the end user electronic device via aninput/output interface, and wherein the training item interaction datacomprises completion data.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein thesecurity server is further configured to adjust a frequency ofpresenting subsequent interaction items to the user, or a sophisticationscore of subsequent interaction items presented to the user of the enduser electronic device based on the security risk score.
 15. The systemof claim 11, wherein the programming instructions are also configured tocause the risk assessment processor to: determine new security settingdata based on the security risk score; transmit the new security settingdata to the end user electronic device or a network security device; andcause the end user electronic device or the network security device toemploy the new security setting data to control network securitysettings.
 16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storinginstructions that, when executed by a security system processor, causethe security system processor to perform a method for assessing securityrisk for an electronic device user in a computing network, the methodcomprising: generating an interaction item, wherein the interaction itemcomprises a training item or a security item; transmitting theinteraction item to an end user electronic device via a network;receiving feedback data from the end user electronic device, wherein:the feedback data includes sensed data relating to an action of a userof the end user electronic device, wherein the action is responsive tothe interaction item, and the feedback data also includes technicalinformation associated with the end user electronic device, wherein thetechnical information includes at least one of the following: a networkaddress, a device make, a device model, a software version, an operatingsystem version, firewall data or a platform type; comparing the feedbackdata to a plurality of security risk scoring metrics, where theplurality of security risk scoring metrics comprise: a set of metricsassigning a weight to the action of the user, and a set of metricsassigning a weight to a technical attribute defined for the technicalinformation; based on the comparing, determining a security risk score,the security risk score quantifying a security risk presented to thecomputing network by the user of the end user electronic device;generating a subsequent interaction item based on the security riskscore, wherein: the subsequent interaction item includes a security itemor a training item, and the subsequent interaction item includes anumber of fields, each field having an associated value; assigning aweight to each field of the number of fields based on the field'sassociated value; and determining a sophistication score for thesubsequent interaction item by totaling the weights associated with eachfield of the number of fields.
 17. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the feedback dataassociated with the interaction item includes security item interactiondata received at the end user electronic device via an input/outputinterface.
 18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media ofclaim 16, wherein the feedback data associated with the interaction itemincludes training item interaction data received at the end userelectronic device via an input/output interface, and wherein thetraining item interaction data comprises completion data.
 19. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein themethod further comprises adjusting a frequency of presenting subsequentinteraction items to the user or a sophistication score of subsequentinteraction items presented to the user of the end user electronicdevice based on the security risk score.
 20. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the methodfurther comprises adjusting, for the user of the end user electronicdevice, network security controls based on the security risk score. 21.The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16,wherein the interaction item includes at least one of the following: asimulated security item, a simulated training item, an actual securityitem, or an actual training item.